Friendship Like Phosphorus
by Draconic Caduceus
Summary: Remake of 'Friends'. Sometimes friendship with an Autobot isn't all it's cracked up to be and sometimes that friendship means that sacrifices must be made. But friendship, like phosphorus, shines brightest in the dark.
1. Return

**Oh hey guys, I'm back! **

**So I've gotten a lot of questions about my stories and if I'll continue to write. Yes. I do still write a lot, mostly reworking characters I created a long time ago. I just haven't posted it anywhere. Recent reviews and private messages have prompted me to begin to redo the stories I have here and post them. Now I give to you...Friendship Like Phosphorus!**

**~DC**

* * *

><p>The hot desert wind kicked up loose pebbles, dust, and the occasional bit of trash some asshole didn't dispose of properly, sending them skittering across the dust-colored road and pinging lightly against the sides of the silver solstice.<p>

_Good thing I paid for that wash and wax,_ Katie joked. Even though she'd known the ex-Autobot for just over a year, she felt less than comfortable releasing the wheel while they drove. It was a habit, a natural instinct for her to hang on as if she were in control. In times like this it was comforting to feel the warm leather beneath her hands, the neat rows of stitches and the spots worn from her worrying.

"Well," the car replied as they rattled over a pothole. "_You_ were the one that insisted that I couldn't go and meet everyone else without looking my best." His tone was light and teasing, balm on her frayed nerves. "It's okay, babycakes. Just relax."

She gave a soft huff of laughter and tried to relax her tight grip on the steering wheel. Her nails had dug little half-moons into her palm and her knuckles hurt from clenching them. _I don't know why I'm the one nervous,_ she said with another nervous little laugh.

"I guess it's all perfectly normal," the car assured her. "You're going to a large, heavily-guarded military base." Katie gave a low little whimper but he continued as if she had made no noise at all. "You're going to meet more of my kind, all of which are larger than me in root and alternate mode. It's perfectly normal for you to be afraid."

_But you're the one returning from the dead,_ she protested, biting her lip. With a deep breath she forced herself to completely release the wheel.

Something in the car rattled, a sound she had come to associate with the equivalent of a human shrug for him in his car mode. "So?"

She shook her head and leaned back against the soft leather seats. It was always such a nice treat when he drove like this. If she could relax enough to enjoy it, of course. Now as the desert scenery whipped by it felt almost soothing even when she was so stressed. Only the barest of dark smudges on the mirage-ridden horizon marked the Autobot base ahead and the city they had left behind.

"Heads up," her friend said, shaking her from her thoughts. A plume of dust was rising from something just ahead of them. "We got company."

Immediately she tensed, hands darting to the wheel like a guilty teen. _Who?_

There was a long, tense pause before her friend laughed. "Don't worry," he told her. "I know this guy!" He whooped and shot forward, eating up the distance. "C'mon, little Bee! Let's race!" he called as they passed.

_You're lucky I love you_, Katie grumbled but she signed it with a slight smile, glad that he was enjoying himself.

"I can feel your butt clenching up," the solstice teased as he zig-zagged in front of the yellow Camaro behind them, keeping him from passing them. "You better not crap all over my seats."

_Puking is more likely_. She transferred her death grip to the armrests and pressed her head back against the headrest, focusing on taking deep breaths. Briefly she wondered if this was what giving birth was like before she pushed the thought out of her head.

Her friend laughed, much more carefree than she had heard him since she'd met him. "C'mon, Babycakes, lighten up. It's just a friendly little race." She tried to laugh but it came out closer to a moan. Dimly she could hear her friend sigh. "C'mon, Babycakes," he said gently over the sound of his racing engine. "Deep breaths, now, attagirl." She focused on the sound of his voice with its cute, almost Cajun accent.

_Ok,_ she signed, taking another deep breath. _Okay. I'm okay_.

"Good," her friend said. "You'll be perfectly fine to watch me beat. His. Ass." He whizzed past the startled guards at the gate, the yellow Camaro hot on his bumper. "Ha!" he crowed.

Katie caught on to what he was about to do only moments before he did it by way of noticing that he wasn't slowing down too much as he approached the _oh God that's a massive robot_. She didn't get a chance to dissuade him, sign out the expletives that made out her response to the stunt he was about to pull, or even really get a good look at the massive robot they were about to run into.

Even though she expected it, the sudden _jerk_ she felt when her friend (_not anymore, I swear to God!_) ejected her high into the air and transformed. She and her work bag were caught before she fell too far and before she could even scream. Her friend held her gently in his clawed hands, cradling her protectively to his chest.

Part of her wanted to be so very angry at him. Her hair was a mess, her makeup was probably smeared or runny and her eyes might be too bright with nervous tears. She was pretty sure that her hands were shaking and her mouth was opened slightly in an embarrassing face of shock and terror from that stunt. The only thing that made her feel better was the big yellow green robot in front of her looking just as shocked as she felt.

"What's crackin', bitches?" the asshole holding her said with a static-laced laugh. "Didja miss me?"

The robot in front of them looked baffled. "_Jazz?_"


	2. Misunderstanding

**Just a quick note, this new Katie is inspired by a different cousin than was the original inspiration for Katie. Her personality and attitude won't be much different than the "original", but her issues are different. **

**~DC**

* * *

><p>In silent amusement, Katie sat and watched Jazz get reacquainted with his friends. For a moment a shiver of cold fear dripped down her spine when she realized that the yellow mech in front of her (<em>he was more of a chartreuse,<em> she thought to herself. _Or that ugly yellow-green crayon you didn't like in grade school_) wasn't the largest there. Jazz put her down when Optimus Prime showed up so he could properly salute. She couldn't fault him, coming from a military background, but she did wish that he still held her.

A hand came down on her shoulder and she jumped embarrassingly. There had been two teenagers in the yellow Camaro, a very attractive dark-haired girl and a lanky awkward geek of a boy. The hand on her shoulder was from the girl. "It's nice to meet you," she said, ever so polite. "I'm Mikaela. This is my boyfriend, Sam."

Her lips twitched. Anxiety stole her voice and she just smiled at them shakily. "Don't worry," the boy, Sam, said. "They're really aware of everything around their feet. They won't step on you. Not on purpose. Not unless...you know…_oof!_"

Mikaela had elbowed Sam hard in the side. "They won't step on you," she assured Katie. "But it's really freaky being near them, yeah?"

"Wait to you see Ironhide," Sam said with what she thought was unnecessary cruelty. "When _we_ first met him, he shoved his cannons in our face."

The robots themselves were speaking excitedly amongst themselves. The one that had been the camaro was bouncing happily on his feet and the door-wings on his (or so she assumed was the proper pronoun) back bounced and fluttered. A big black robot emerged from between the not-quite-pristine hangars, a military man following purposefully in his shadow.

Mikaela elbowed Sam hard in the ribs again. "_That's_ Ironhide," she said quietly. "And that's Captain Will Lennox."

Fear closed her throat now, not just her voice. She believed that they meant well, really she did, especially after knowing Jazz for just over a year. But their sheer size made even the most confident, fearless human quail in terror. One wrong move - that she _knew_ they wouldn't make - and she was just an ugly little smear on the hot desert landscape.

"Breathe, babycakes," a familiar voice said quietly and turning she found that Jazz had knelt down beside her. His face, so expressive even without eye equivalents, shone with gentle sincerity and his own natural friendliness. A large hand that seemed more avian than human reached out and rested on her back reassuringly. "Cut off that auto-erotic asphyxiation, Cookie Monster."

Behind her she could hear Sam snort. "Cookie Monster? _Ow!_"

_Mikaela must've elbowed him again,_ she thought crazily. Jazz's hands cupped her in a cocoon of silvery metal and clawed fingertips.

"Babycakes?" Jazz asked quietly, face filling her vision. His face was concerned. "Katie?"

She took a deep breath, focusing on his face. _Ok,_ she signed, taking another very shaky breath. _Just give me a moment._

Her face and neck burned in embarrassment already, but that burn escalated to a scorching level when Ironhide muttered, "If she's scared _now_, a Decepticon attack would kill her."

Jazz snapped something back to him in a language of electronic whistles, clicks, and whorls. The black robot snarled, the cannons on his forearms lighting up. "There we go," Jazz told her gently. "Gimme a smile, sugah?"

Without fail it always made her smile. It did then too, though the smile was a very shaky one. _I think I can do this now._

"You sure?" Jazz asked. His face showed nothing but kindness and understanding.

_I need to be able to face your friends,_ she told him, her nervous shaking causing her to fumble a little with her signs. Jazz pretended not to notice. _I can be strong for you. I want us to have good memories before I say goodbye._

Jazz recoiled slightly. "_Goodbye_?" Then his face pinched. "Oh." That was not the response she expected and she recoiled slightly. "You think I intend to stay with them."

Biting her lip, Katie looked away from his face, feeling tears pricking the corners of her eyes. _Why not?_ She asked. _You're better off with them._

Jazz sat down and behind him she could see that everyone had gone. "They all went inside," a voice said and she squeaked and turned to find the _chartreuse_ robot on his hands and knees to peer at her. "While your sun does not affect us very much, you are much more fragile and prone to ailments such as heatstroke, sunburn, and heat exhaustion. I thought it prudent to move indoors."

"Why don't you go and join them, doc?" Jazz growled.

The other didn't take the hint. "My scans indicate that you are stressed and showing the signs of an anxiety attack. As I do not believe Jazz is capable of-"

In a move that reminded Katie of a child on the playground, Jazz planted his palm on the other's face and _shoved_ him away. "_Go away_," he snarled, using his other hand to cradle Katie's back. "Private conversation. We'll be in when it's done."

The other robot frowned deeply but their commanding officer appeared in the doorway of the hangar closest to where they crouched. "Ratchet," he called and the green looked over his bulky shoulder at the massive red and blue robot. "Give them some privacy." Ratchet, as he was apparently called, scowled but obeyed though he dragged his heels about it.

Alone, Jazz transferred his scowl to her. "Now what makes you think I'm staying here?" he demanded. He shifted slightly to throw her in a shadow, aware that she was sweating out in the sun.

_They're your friends aren't they?_ She snapped back, fear forgotten now that she couldn't see the others. It was her and Jazz, alone, as it had always been when they spoke like this. _You belong here._

"I'm not a wild animal," Jazz growled. "I don't belong anywhere I don't want to go. I don't need to be with my own kind to be happy." Katie winced and looked away guiltily. Gently he touched her chin and turned her face up to him. "I'm happy with _you_, Katie. I'm glad you got me to come back here to see everyone but I don't want to go back to this war."

Katie bit her lip. _Isn't that desertion?_ She asked, worried. What would they do to him for it?

"Prime'll understand," he assured her gently. "And if he doesn't I'll ask him if I could be your guardian." He leaned back slightly. "Now. Are you ready to see the rest of them?"

I could back out, she realized. He'd let me say 'no'. No judgment. Reaching out she hugged as much of his leg as she could reach. Gently he picked her up and carried her to the hangar.

"She okay now?" Sam asked as he put her down. "Are you okay?" he asked and she frowned at him. He was enunciating his words strangely.

Jazz was also frowning. "What's wrong with you?" he wanted to know, glancing at Mikaela who looked embarrassed. She was glancing between Sam and Katie as if she wasn't sure who to look at.

Shaking her skirts off, Katie ignored him as Will stepped forward. "I'm Will," he said politely, offering her a hand to shake.

This she could handle and took his hand. "Captain Will Lennox," she said, tongue feeling and sounding heavy. "That's what Mikaela said. My name is Katie."

"You're not in the military," Will said, amused. "Technically you don't have to call me by my rank. You can just call me Will."

A noise to her right had her turning to find the big red and blue robot, their commanding officer, taking a knee to be closer to her height. He offered her a massive finger to shake. "It is nice to meet you, Catherine," he rumbled. God, she could feel his voice in her bones. "I am Optimus Prime."

"Just Katie, please," she said, hoping her voice didn't sound as weak to him as it did to her.

A head that was as large as she was inclined politely. "I would like to thank you for taking care of Jazz. He is a very dear friend of mine and that you were kind enough to care for him in his time of need means much to me."

She took a moment to process that. "Really, sir," she said carefully. "It was my pleasure. He is a good friend."

"These are my men," Optimus Prime told her, gesturing to the robots behind her. "Bumblebee, guardian to Mikaela and Sam, who you have met." The yellow Camaro chirped and bounced on his big feet. "Ironhide, guardian to Major Lennox." This of course was the big black robot with cannons that spun on his forearms. A glare from Optimus Prime kept him from doing more with them, or so she guessed. "Ratchet, our Chief Medical Officer." This was the weird green robot and now that she thought of it, she noticed red notes on his armor that looked like they belonged on an ambulance.

"Not so bad, huh?" Jazz teased, easing himself down into a sitting position beside her. Putting names to faces, being in a hangar with them, and knowing that she wouldn't also be saying goodbye to Jazz when she left meant that she felt better around them. She was still terrified of their sheer size but they had carefully negated that by spreading out more around the hangar than simply around Jazz.

She mustered a shaky smile. "Want something to drink?" Will asked and looking past him she could see that there was a human-sized lounge, complete with a few couches, coffee tables, a few game stations, and a large TV. There was a Mountain Dew soda machine beside a small mini-fridge at the edge of it and a few men in sweaty uniforms lounging around. "I'm sure they want to catch up. It'll be boring to stick around until they do." he joked, eyes light.

Jazz gave her a slight nod and she followed the humans their designated corner. Briskly Will introduced her to the sweaty men in the chairs who looked like they had just run laps around base.

"What have you guys been doing, rolling around in the sand?" Mikaela demanded.

The man introduced as Epps lolled his head and grinned at her. "Nah, just doing exercises out back with the twins. _Damn_, those guys are fast."

"They're Lamborghinis," Sam said, throwing himself into one of the loveseats. He coughed as the action kicked up a large puff of dust. "Of _course_ they're fast."

Will was walking toward the soda machine and mini-fridge. "What can I get you? Beer? Water? Soda?"

Nervously Katie looked around. No one was staring her except for Sam who looked like he was trying to do so discreetly. "Just water, please," she said.

To her shock, Will knocked sharply on the machine. "Two waters, please, Dewey," he said. The machine rattled and the basket opened by itself, revealing the requested bottles. "Thanks!" Seeing her look, Will offered a bottle with a wry smile. "He was made during Mission City. Harmless really. Just not too talkative."

"That's so weird," she blurted before she could stop herself and slapped a hand over her mouth. "Sorry."

Epps laughed uproariously from his spot on the couch. "It is," he agreed. "But you get used to it eventually. Or do you still think Jazz is weird?"

He had a point there and she nodded agreeably to him. She sat at Will's gesture on a relatively clean and dust-free chair. "It took a while to get past it."

"You're adjusting very well," Sam said, over enunciating again. "It must be very hard for you."

Will frowned at him as he sat down. "It was hard to see how small Jazz is compared to everyone else," she admitted. "I didn't realize he was so...small."

"Something about their mass," one of the others, whose name she didn't get, told her. "When they scan their alternate modes. The mass gotta match up."

She tilted her head to the side. "I guess that makes sense."

"So how did you meet Jazz?" Mikaela asked curiously. "Hey Dewey, can I get a diet of whatever you have?" The machine rattled agreeably and a diet Pepsi popped out. "Thanks, buddy!"

Taking a deep breath, Katie told them the whole complicated tale. How someone had reportedly broken into a Pontiac dealership and stole the Solstice that was modeled in the window. How, after a long and arduous chase it barely got away but was found weeks later and taken to the impound lot. How it was sent to a used-car lot owned by a friend of hers who in turn called her up and sold it to her at a good price. He had known that she was in need of a car and since the Solstice was still relatively new, cut the price further as a gift and encouragement for her.

What she didn't know was that Jazz had "stolen" the car and led the police on that chase and before he could get away, had fallen into stasis lock. He had woken up again after she had owned him for a week and had promptly panicked. He threw her out of his cab and demanded to know why she was driving him.

"I got lucky," she said, sipping her water. "I was in my driveway near my house. I have no neighbors really," she explained. "I live in wine country. Lots of empty space. So when Jazz dumped me I hadn't been driving very fast and no one was there to see."

She went on to explain how she had talked him down from his panic and they had settled together. It really was kind of an idyllic life on the old winery.

"It sounds like a fairytale," Mikaela sighed, sipping on her soda. "So no one suspected?"

Katie shook her head. "No neighbors so he could walk around and he was really careful when we did go out. He stays in the warehouse where he can stay out of sight even if someone does visit."

To her right, Sam said something. He stole a sip from Mikaela's soda and made a face and said something else. Once more he was over enunciating but this time it was to an extent where she couldn't understand him at all.

"Dude, _why_ are you doing that?" Epps demanded. "It's getting annoying."

Katie leaned slightly toward Will, who was sitting closest to her. "What did he say?"

"Who, Epps? Or Sam?" Will asked, politely turning toward her.

"Sam," she replied even as she felt her face and neck burn with embarrassment. The way Will scowled over her shoulder told her that Sam (or so she assumed) said something that caused a bit of an uproar behind her. She ignored it.

"He asked what you do for a living and whether Jazz got bored waiting for you," Will said slowly and with care but without over enunciating the way Sam had. "Then he wondered if they get bored waiting for us while we live our lives."

When she turned to the rest of the group, she found that some of the soldiers were staring at her and Mikaela's face was red. She wouldn't meet Katie's eyes and she felt a wash of shame and embarrassment.

"Yes," she said, tongue feeling heavy. She wasn't normally an emotional person, but now she felt tight in the chest. "I am deaf." The ground shook slightly with impact tremors as one of the Autobots approached. She didn't turn away from the humans. Only Will would meet her eyes and her heart sank. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Will shrugged. "Ratchet told us when we came inside," he admitted. "I guess he found your..." here he gestured to his ears. "When he scanned you outside."

Her lips thinned and she tried to stamp down on the indignation, knowing that scanning was a natural thing for them. Jazz had explained that it would be like taking away an eye if they stopped. It was another way for them to see even if it seemed a huge invasion of privacy to humans.

"They're called cochlear implants," the Autobot behind her said, revealing himself as Jazz. A large hand rested on her shoulder again and she took strength from that gentle touch. It also gave her a very convenient excuse to leave.

"I'm sorry," she said, trying not to trip over her words. "I have work tomorrow so I really have to leave."

Will stood when she did and offered his calloused hand. "It was very nice to meet you," he said sincerely. "Please come again sometime."

She mustered a shaky smile for him before walking crisply back to Jazz. He had transformed and tucked her bag into his passenger seat. Without looking back, she got in and closed the door.

The tears didn't come until late that night. She went downstairs and collapsed on the couch. Immediately she got up again and went into the kitchen. Jazz would surely see that she was up because of the light. Let him, she didn't care.

Personally she hated the cliche that weepy women ate ice cream out of the carton and sat in front of the TV. But sometimes it was the only thing to ward off the tears and that is why she always kept her favorite flavor (chocolate) in the fridge.

With her ice cream and a spoon in tow, she went back to the living room and curled up on the couch. She turned on the TV and found that there was some corny sci-fi movie on, perfect to eat ice cream to.

Light shimmered behind her and in the reflection of the TV, she could see a vaguely humanoid shape. The shape came around the end of the couch and she saw that it was Jazz's holoform.

He said something and Katie shook her head, using her spoon to point at her ears. _Ratchet fixed it at the base,_ he signed. Katie squinted at him. It did look much more solid and not prone to jerky static like a bad TV picture from decades ago. _Why are you up so late?_

_Because,_ she signed back and scooped more ice cream into her mouth. _Do I need to have a curfew because I'm deaf?_

Then she bit her lip and looked away from Jazz as the first tear fell. With a growl she couldn't hear she shoved another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. The couch dipped and she glanced over at Jazz, surprised that the holoform had substance other than merely being light. Jazz offered no explanation, merely settling himself beside her so that her right leg and his left were touching from hip to ankle.

_So it's because of Sam,_ Jazz signed, twisting his torso so she could see his motions.

The tears came in a silent flood now, more of frustration than sadness. _Not _just _Sam,_ she signed back angrily. _Everyone except maybe Will. _He _didn't seem bothered by it._

Jazz reached out with a cool hand and wiped away her tears and she leaned her head into his palm. _They're just stupid,_ he signed back, drawing his hand gently away. _Except maybe Will. He seems like a decent guy._

He got a watery smile at the echo of her words. _People are just so…_ she flailed her hands, trying to find the words.

_Petty? Xenophobic?_

_Yes!_ Katie agreed. _One face says that being different is good while the other judges you for it, even if you can't help it, if it wasn't your fault!_ She continued the sign and slammed her fist into her thigh.

Gently Jazz caught her hand and held it until she relaxed. She scooped more ice cream into her mouth and the two of them watched the movie for a while. He tapped her on the shoulder after a little while. _Our differences define us,_ he told her when she looked at him. _You're deaf. So what? You're smarter than a lot of people that can hear. You can speak fluently in two languages _and _in ASL._ _You're very accomplished for one so young even in the eyes of your people. _

Katie sighed. _As if that matters. I'm still different. People will still hate me for what I am._

_It doesn't matter,_ Jazz insisted. _Now why don't you just prove everyone wrong? Surely you can't still be bothered by all of this._

Katie made a face. _I'm going to go to sleep._ She signed and put away her ice cream. At the doorway to the stairs she looked back to find Jazz's holoform still sitting on the couch. _Goodnight._

Behind her, Jazz's holoform sighed. "Goodnight, Katie," he said wearily before disappearing.


	3. Fawn

"What's wrong?" The receptionist asked as soon as she saw her.

"Nothing," Katie snapped too forcefully to be believed. She grabbed her coat into the rack and shrugged into it so forcefully that the pens she kept in the breast pocket popped out and clattered to the floor. "Not a goddamn thing."

The receptionist pursed her lips but didn't argue, instead watching her boss stomp past her desk and into the back. When Katie came back out, she wordlessly handed her the file folder she was looking for. She seemed calmer, like a switch had been flipped. Working with her patients had that effect on her.

"Sorry, Liz," Katie told her, squeezing her shoulder as she passed. "I was just dealing with some idiots yesterday."

Liz snorted. "Don't let them get to you," she advised wisely.

Her boss shook her head. "I'll be out back if anyone comes in. You know how to reach me."

She hadn't been gone for fifteen minutes when a panicked young man burst into the office. "I hit something! I'm so sorry, I hit something!"

Liz was amused. He looked like he just got his license. It was probably the first time he hit anything and the poor kid was freaking out. She hit the button to page Katie and stood. "Let's have a look, then, okay?" she asked soothingly and the poor kid seemed mollified. "What's your name?"

He hesitated for a moment too long before he said, "Henry."

"There won't be any marks against you," she said gently. "What's your _real_ name?"

"Henry" clammed up and shook his head. Liz shrugged and followed him out to the dark blue Mustang parked in front of the large animal rescue in such a haphazard way that suggested that Henry had driven up the driveway, threw it in park, and then raced in. Really, she expected this kind of panic of a husband at the ER whose wife was going into labor than a teen like "Henry", but to each their own, she assumed.

Wringing his hands nervously, "Henry" opened the door to the back seat, revealing a fawn resting comfortably on the seat, wrapped in an emergency blanket. The blond woman holding it smiled. "He insisted on bringing it here," she said by way of explanation.

Liz shook her head, amused. "No, it's fine," she assured her and "Henry". "If this little guy or girl was the one hit then it'd probably die in the wild. Now it has a chance to live. Let's get him inside."

The blond patted Henry's hand as she got out of the car. "Don't worry, Blue," she said gently. Liz wondered why they were traveling together. She looked too young to be his mother and nothing like him so they couldn't be siblings. Not to mention the woman had an Aussie accent and Henry had none. Curiouser and curiouser.

"The doctor is out back working on a horse with a corneal ulcer," she explained as she led the way into the main building, the bundled fawn in her arms. "She'll be in in a few minutes. You're welcome to stay if you would like."

In one of the mirrors she saw Henry look at the woman hopefully. The woman sighed. "I already called in sick," she said indulgently. "We can stay if you want to."

Liz struggled not to smile. If they were dating they must have a large age gap between them, she mused as she set the fawn down on an examination table and pulled on a pair of gloves. "Where'd you guys find him?" she asked instead as she began to unwrap the animal.

"Down the road a ways," the blond said evasively. "Near the woods."

The back door banged open. "Exam room 1!" Liz yelled and wondered for a moment if Katie heard her. She shook it off. Even if she hadn't, she'd figure out quick enough where her receptionist and new patient was.

Katie entered a moment later. "So what's the problem?"

That opened the floodgates for poor Henry and the whole jumbled story flew from his lips in a confusing, tangled mess. Katie nodded along and briefly Liz wondered if she was really listening or could even hear him as her attention was on Liz and the little fawn.

"Well," she said when he was done, and Liz realized that she had listened enough to get the idea and when he was done rambling. "I certainly won't turn down a little cutie like him." Liz pulled back the blanket to reveal the fawn's broken leg. "And _that_ needs to be set. Hold him, Liz, I'll get some morphine."

Henry wrung his hands until the blonde put her hand on his shoulder. "He's in pain?"

Gently, Katie smiled at him as she pulled on a pair of gloves and got the items necessary. "He was hit by a car," she said gently. "And his little leg's broken. Poor little guy might be going into shock."

"Come on," the blond said gently. "Let's leave them to their work. We can wait outside. I'm sure they'll tell us when they're done." A glance at Liz had the receptionist nodding in agreement. "See? We'll see the fawn when they're all done."

Ten minutes later, Liz came out. "Her assistant came in," she explained. "They're working on him now. Don't worry, he'll be fine." Henry seemed to droop in relief and Liz and the blonde shared a smile. "Come on, you look like you need some kitten therapy."

Henry looked up at her. "What?"

"We have some rescued animals up for adoption," Liz explained. "Some are big like a few of the cows and horses out back. Some are housepets. Cats, dogs, that sort of thing. You wanna see them? You look like you need to play with a few to calm down."

The blonde chuckled. "We'd love to," she answered for them and tugged Henry to his feet.

"They're so...fluffy." Henry said as they entered the kitten enclosure. "Oh!" he exclaimed quietly as one tripped over his foot. "They're so clumsy!"

Liz laughed. "I think I can let you guys stay here for a bit. Just don't let any of them in cages out and don't let these guys escape out the door. I gotta go and man the front desk again."

"Thanks," the blonde told her quietly and the way her eyes flashed to Henry made it obvious to Liz that she was thanking her for taking care of the kid. Liz winked back at her as she slipped out the door.

"We can't keep a fawn," the woman told Henry sternly. Her accent gave Katie a little bit of trouble but she spoke clearly enough for her to understand most of it even when she was turned away.

The poor kid looked heartbroken. "But Maggie," he begged as he hovered over the still-drugged animal. "I hit it, I should take care of it."

"The hotel won't let it in and we can't just leave it in...in the car!" the woman, apparently named Maggie, argued back. "I appreciate that you're trying to take responsibility but we simply can't keep it."

Katie watched as poor Henry's face fell even more. "Well," she said, drawing their attention. "This _is_ an animal rescue _and_ this thing needs to be taken care of. I can keep it here and if you want you can help me take care of it."

It amused her to no end how torn the poor kid looked. "We can come in before work," Maggie suggested. "And stop by again at the end of the day if you're still here."

"I live down the street," Katie assured them. "It won't be a problem if you come by late."

Maggie smiled. "Now you've done it," she told the vet, eyes twinkling. "You'll never get rid of him now!"

Turning, Henry looked at Maggie with the most convincing begging eyes Katie had ever seen. Will, her assistant, tapped her shoulder. _Should I take him back out?_

Katie nodded. "Will's going to take him out back and get him taken care of. Do you want to watch or should I ask Liz to give you a tour?" She glanced at her watch. Looking up, she was rewarded with Henry's brilliant smile.

_Poor kid was distraught over hitting that deer_, Katie said and reached for the glass of wine for a sip.

_I thought you're supposed to leave them and not interfere?_ Jazz asked.

Katie took her time answering. She was _tired_. After Henry and Maggie were taken care of, she had to go on call to a nearby farm. The superstitious farmer had screamed at Liz that a chupacabra had attacked his flock. She had spent most of what remained of her day loading dead sheep into a wagon with the help of mute Will and Scary Jack. Only one of the sheep had survived the carnage and it was so badly hurt that the best thing for it was to put it down.

Understandably, the farmer had been _furious_. Near the end she wasn't sure what language he had been speaking in but she had seriously considered turning down her cochlears. But that wouldn't be professional.

She sighed. _Yeah, that's usually what you do. You just try not to interfere._

Jazz chuckled and let her lay her head on his lap. _That can't be the most stressful part of your day._

He laughed when Katie sighed gustily and sat up to reach for her wine. _Someone slaughtered a flock of sheep._ She admitted to him tiredly. _The farmer is of course very angry._

Her friend thought it over. _It attacked in daylight?_

Katie shrugged and finishing her wine, stretched back over Jazz's lap. He obligingly rubbed her hairline and she relaxed. _I don't know. I just got the call around 8, managed to get there close to 9. I had to close down the vet shop. Poor Liz was stuck there all day with the shelter though._

Jazz tapped her collarbone and she opened her eyes. _Do you know what happened?_

_No,_ Katie replied with a gusty sigh. _We just had to clear the bodies. Only one was left alive but we had to put it down. You'd have to be a god to save it._ She closed her eyes again and let Jazz pet her hair again. _Liz said Snowy got adopted again today though._

She could feel the hologram's torso rise and fall like he had taken a deep breath and cracked an eye open. _Hopefully they'll keep him this time._

Katie closed her eyes again and wiggled against Jazz. _Yes,_ she told him simply. _I really do hope so._

She tried not to groan when Jazz tapped her collarbone again a few minutes later. _I'm going back to the base again tomorrow morning,_ he signed to her. _There are medical updates that I need to get from Ratchet._ She noted with considerable amusement that the sign he used for 'Ratchet' was the 'r' shape tapped against his nose in reference to the broad olfactory sensor on the yellow-green mech.

_Still not your keeper,_ she signed back, closing her eyes. She gave a jaw-popping yawn and settled again as Jazz rubbed her forehead again.

Jazz pinched her nose lightly and smirked when Katie groaned. _Go upstairs. Go to sleep._

_But your lap is so nice, _Katie whined.

Katie flushed when Jazz winked down at her. _I know, babycakes, you don't need to tell me that._

_Okay, _now _I'm going upstairs._ Jazz laughed, to her, silently. _Goodnight, Jazz._

Her friend winked at her again, taking great joy in embarrassing her. _Dream of me,_ he teased. _I know I'll yearn after your forevermore._

Katie laughed. _You're so corny_. Jazz smirked at her before disappearing.


	4. Target

Henry showed up bright and early the next morning, just as she was driving down to the barn to feed the animals. Maggie seemed closer to dead than asleep.

"Long day," she croaked and Katie smiled at her.

"Let's swing by my house," she suggested. "I got a pot of coffee and some fresh berries. That'll perk you up."

Henry fidgeted. "I'm sorry, I dragged her out here so early it didn't occur to me that you guys might not be awake."

"It's fine," Katie assured him, inwardly laughing. Jazz was much the same way when he got excited and had on a few occasions packed a bag for her and loaded her in the car. Once she woke up almost all the way to Vegas, not having realized that she had been kidnapped by her friend. "The animals can wait for a little bit. We can't have you falling asleep at your job." She glanced at the navy blue mustang in the driveway of the animal rescue. "You can ride up in my truck. The back road isn't the best maintained. I haven't gotten around to getting it paved yet."

They piled into her big truck and rattled along up to the large farmhouse. Katie was relieved to see that Jazz had already gone even though she wished she could sit down to another breakfast with him.

"How can you drive if you can't hear?" Henry asked abruptly as they were pulling up to the front of her house.

That seemed to wake Maggie up. "_Blue!_" she hissed, coloring.

"It's okay," Katie assured her. _At least he wasn't like Sam,_ she thought grumpily. "I have cochlear implants," she explained to Henry.

Henry mulled that over. "I'm sorry if that was wrong to ask," he said with innocent sincerity and Katie had to smile at him. "I was just curious. At first I wasn't sure what was on your head. I thought it was headphones but you don't wear headphones there usually." Katie's lips twitched as she stomped nonexistent muck from her boots in the mudroom. She listened idly as she switched her boots to more comfortable shoes and led them into the kitchen.

"It's okay," she said again. "I've heard worse."

"You have such a lovely house," Maggie told her, looking around. "Thank you for inviting us."

Katie gave her a lopsided smile. "I don't have many guests. But I'm glad you like it." She poured Maggie a cup of coffee and brought out cream and sugar for her. "I have a few avocado eggs left and I think I have a hash that my roommate made if you guys would like some food. And I think J went out to pick some fruits too." _Those things were his babies_, she thought but didn't say. The garden out back was planted and maintained by him. Katie herself had a black thumb and killed any plant that she touched.

"None for me, thanks," Henry said as Maggie gulped her coffee. "I think Maggie might like some. I don't think she's eaten this morning."

Nodding, Katie pulled out a few plates and started loading food on it from the stove. As she put the plates in front of her and Maggie and brought the pot to the table, her phone buzzed. Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was a text from Jazz asking if she had the food he made.

'_Maggie and Henry are here again,'_ she texted back. '_I'm sharing some with them.'_

'_Let me know how it is.'_ He replied.

For someone that didn't eat, couldn't taste, and couldn't smell in a way that humans understood, Jazz sure liked to cook. Despite his apparent sensory handicaps (in a human's perspective), he was a far better cook than she was.

Maggie fell upon her plate with gusto and wordlessly Katie refilled her coffee. '_I think Maggie likes it, judging by the way she's inhaling it.'_ she texted her friend.

'_Your opinion matters more to me.'_ Jazz responded.

With a little smile, Katie ate.

* * *

><p>She got a later start than normal, but Maggie and Henry were more than willing to assist her in feeding her animals. Henry loved the fawn in particular and hovered over it as it waddled around its enclosure. Maggie got a few pictures of him doing so and promised to email a few to Katie to hang in her office.<p>

They were just leaving as Liz showed up. _They're back?_ She signed.

_Henry wanted to feed the fawn._ Katie signed back. _Poor thing probably dragged Maggie out of bed._

Liz giggled and went to her spot behind the counter. "We better go," Maggie said, perhaps guessing they were talking about her and Henry. "Or I'll be late to work. Tell that roommate of yours to call me if he opens a restaurant."

"_She_ got to eat J's cooking but not me?" Liz demanded.

"You never show up early enough for breakfast," Katie told her over her shoulder. To Maggie she said, "If you want to come by after your work, I'll probably be here late. I have a lot of appointments and I'll have one of my assistants take you to that fawn."

Henry gave her a bright smile. "Thanks! I'm really sorry to cause you so much trouble but I feel like I should make it up to it for hitting it and then taking it away from its mom. I know I probably shouldn't have but I just kind of panicked, you know?"

Smiling, Katie held up her hand to stop him. It had all become a jumbled mess with her implants but she got the general gist of it. "It's all right. I'm just glad we could help him."

With a last wave, the two of them got into the navy mustang and drove away. _He's such a dork,_ Liz signed. _I wonder if he's single?_

_I appreciate that you're practicing,_ Katie signed back with a wry smile. _But your job here isn't to find dates._

Liz rolled her eyes. _But Professor_, she whined. Laughing, Katie shook her head and mimed turning off her cochlears, snagging the folder off Liz's desk as she passed.

"Abscesses? Again?" Katie asked out loud as she read the file. "I'll be out back then, I guess. Send Alesandro out back when he gets here. He'll be a little late today."

"Right-o, boss," Liz called after her. "Have fun with those abscesses!"

Katie grunted and slammed the back door shut.

* * *

><p>Alesandro didn't show up as late as Liz expected but when he did, he showed up in a dramatic way, leaping out of the back of a truck before it stopped and leaving a smear of bright red blood on the front door. "Where's Katie?" he demanded.<p>

"Out back," Liz said as she jumped to her feet. Alesandro looked like he wanted to run through the office then reconsidered and ran around outside. Briefly Liz considered paging Katie but figured that Alesandro would reach her by the time she received it. So with a sigh she pulled on gloves and set about cleaning the bloody door. It bothered some people to see blood on the door, she noticed.

He must have caught Katie as she was finishing up with the abscessed cow because a few minutes later her boss-slash-professor ran back through. There was muck on the edges of her coat and she tracked more of it on the clean white tile. Liz eyed it with undisguised annoyance which Katie ignored.

"Another farm was attacked," she said, reaching for the emergency bag she kept in a closet near the door. "Call Will and see if he can come in today to deal with what he can then call all the appointments and let them know we have to reschedule."

Liz sighed as they ran back out, then again when the phone rang. Ripping off her gloves, she plucked the phone up. "Animal rescue and veterinary this is Liz, how may I help you?" she asked, eyeing the muck stains on the ground. She did _not_ look forward to cleaning that.

"_Hi Liz, it's J. Is Katie there?"_

"No," Liz huffed. "She just ran out. You missed her literally by a few seconds."

A brief paused. "_I thought she was staying in today?"_

Liz tucked the phone between her shoulder and ear and flipped through the appointment book. As Katie had told the weird fawn couple, she had a lot of appointments and Liz didn't look forward to calling all of them to reschedule. Most were farmers and none of them were really major operations so they'd probably understand, especially if Liz told them why her boss had run out the way she had. "She was but Alesandro showed up covered in blood and called her out to muster. Another farm's been attacked."

"_Do you know where?"_ J asked and she shrugged even though she knew he couldn't see her.

"Nah, they didn't tell me. I'd guess on the way here from Alesandro's? I have no idea when she'd be back. Were you supposed to get lunch together?"

J sighed in frustration on the other end but she knew it wasn't at her or Katie. "_No, I was going to swing by and surprise her. But if she's busy with another slaughter like the last one I'll just stay out."_

"She gave that fawn couple some of your food," Liz whined petulantly. "But she _never_ shares with me!"

Her boss's roommate laughed. "_You're never here early enough for breakfast,"_ J teased and Liz sputtered.

"Just 'cause I don't wake up at the ass-crack of dawn doesn't mean you guys shouldn't share with me!" She complained and then froze. "Wait wait wait wait. You're doing this on purpose! She said the same thing to me this morning!"

"_I will neither confirm nor deny that,"_ J told her with a laugh.

Liz grunted. "I'll bet." Looking again at the muck on the tile she sighed. "Yo J, I'm real sorry but I gotta go and clean up a bit. Katie tracked muck all over the tile and if anyone comes in they'll freak if they see it."

"_Gross,"_ J replied. "_But yeah, I gotta go soon too. Maybe next time I'll just swing by and take _you _to lunch."_

"I'll take you up on that once the farms stop being attacked." Liz grumbled. "If all the help wasn't called out every other day I could go with you. Let Katie get all covered in weird bodily fluids all she wants while _I_ get to have a good lunch with good guy with a nice ass."

J laughed again. "_Gross. To all of that." _

Liz transferred the call to the cordless and walked into the side room to get the swiffer. "What?"

"_You're _way _too young for me."_ J teased.

"You can't be much older than Katie," Liz insisted. "And she's what, thirty?"

"_Nah, I'm older than that."_

"_Older?_" Liz demanded as she began filling the reservoir container of the swiffer steamer in the closet. "Impossible! If anything I'd guess you're younger." Hearing the bell on the door ring, she swore quietly to herself. "Just a minute!" she called over her shoulder, pressing the mouthpiece of the phone into her chest. "Sorry, J, someone just came in. I'll talk to you later?"

"_Okay. Have a good day, Liz. If Katie comes back early ask her to give me a call?"_

Liz smiled. They totally pined for each other, she was sure of it. "Yeah, okay. And I'll tell her you _luuuurve_ her too." The phone clicked, signalling that J had hung up. Laughing, she tucked the phone in her breast pocket and sealed the reservoir, turned off the water, and dragged the contraption out into the front room. "Sorry for the mess, just give me a sec and I'll have it cleaned up."

The group of men standing in the entry looked at her in eerie unison. While she nervously put the cordless away and then began to clean the drying muck, the men continued to watch her silently.

"Um, excuse me, please," she said quietly to one of the men, realizing he had been standing in one of Katie's bootprints. "Just let me get that cleaned up."

He moved his foot and she frowned, realizing that the print, still a little wet, was not affected. She had been _sure_ that he had been standing in it. He didn't move away and as she carefully cleaned the spot, she noticed that the swiffer went _through_ his shoe.

Now she was concerned and froze, slowly turning to look at the men. They stared back with cold _red_ eyes.

* * *

><p>Katie couldn't get the smell of blood out of her nose or the sticky feel of it on her arms. Her coat was permanently stained, she was sure and her clothes were probably not much better. Most likely she'd have to burn it all. She doubted J would let her into the house looking and smelling the way she did.<p>

"Yuck," Alesandro said, wiggling his fingers in the soaked glove. "My neighbors will probably think I'm a serial killer now."

They fell silent as the farmer came up to them. "I just wanted to thank you," he said quietly. "I'm sorry you got stuck helping me with the cleanup but I really appreciate it."

Katie gave him a shaky smile. "I needed to look over the bodies so I can help you make the report," she reminded him. "It didn't seem right to do that and then leave."

The farmer grunted as the door to the farmhouse slammed open. "Still. I appreciate it. C'mon, let's get you cleaned up. Can't have you getting in your truck like that."

"Dr. Keynes?" Alesandro nudged her gently.

_Someone's calling you,_ he signed clumsily and she looked around for who could have been calling her. She saw the farmer's wife running over, a dish towel clutched in her hands.

"Yes?" Katie asked, peeling off her work gloves and grimacing when she saw that her fingers were bloody and pruny. Gross.

Hearing nothing, she looked up to find the farmers wife sobbing. She glanced at Alesandro who looked horrified. She nudged him gently. _My cochlears stopped working. I can't hear anything._

After a moment of hesitation and a deep but shaky breath, Alesandro signed slowly and deliberately, _the office attack._

The farmer snatched the dish towel from his wife and handed it to her. She took it from the farmer with a nod of thanks and quickly dried her hands of blood and grabbed her cochlears to fiddle with it. "My battery is dying," she said when she could hear again. Judging by the muffled sounds she heard when she spoke, the setting was too low so she was probably talking too loud. "What about an office?"

"Your office was attacked," the farmer told her loudly and she felt like someone poured a bucket of cold water over her. She ran to her truck and yanked the door open, fumbling for her phone with hands still red with dried blood.

_WHERE ARE YOU?_ J texted just as she picked it up. There were about ten other messages of a similar tone and a few missed calls. If the texts weren't any indication, the calls told her how worried he was, as she didn't like taking phone calls because she couldn't see the speaker's lips.

She called him and put the phone on speaker before climbing into the cab. A rocking of the car told her that Alesandro had jumped into the bed. She threw the car into gear and drove as fast as she dared to down the farmer's road.

Jazz's voice came muffled over the phone and she tucked the device into her bra so she could hear it better without taking her hands off the wheel. "_Where are you?"_ He sounded panicked.

"I'm still at the farm," she yelled back. "We just finished cleaning up. What happened to the office?"

"_I see you. Is that Alesandro?"_

Glancing in her mirrors, she saw the familiar form of the pontiac solstice behind her. Alesandro waved frantically to her and she hit the brakes. Her assistant threw open the dividing window. "_Look_!" he yelled, pointing over her shoulder. A plume of thick black smoke rose from somewhere ahead of them.

Seconds later, Jazz's holoform yanked open the door. As he opened his mouth to speak, her cochlears went out. _My ears are gone!_ She signed to Jazz as he yelled something at her.

She didn't need him to sign to know that he was yelling wildly creative profanities. Alesandro looked impressed despite himself. _Get in the car,_ he signed to her.

_But I'm all bloody and the truck drives better on the access,_ she argued.

Jazz had turned his head to say something to Alesandro but she knew that he had "seen" what she told him. After he said his piece to Alesandro, he signed to her, _You're safer in me than in this piece of scrap. Alesandro will drive the truck back and you will stay safe. _He reached over and unbuckled her seatbelt before dragging her out of the car.

_What's wrong? _Katie asked as she complied. He was never so rough with her and his blue eyes were far too bright.

_Something attacked the office,_ he repeated. _I think they were enemies._

Katie shook her head as Jazz threw himself into gear and tore down the road. While her truck could and did do better than the low sports car on the unpaved access roads, Jazz could outpace and out distance it on paved roads. Soon she realized that Jazz wasn't headed toward the office. _Enemies? And where are we going? Don't think I haven't noticed that we're not going in the right direction!_

A panel on the dash shifted and words scrolled across the screen. _Enemies of the Autobots. They may have figured out who you are and attacked. I don't know. The attack seems suspicious though and I don't want to take any chances._

Angrily, Katie kicked at the floor. _I need to get there for Liz! I have responsibilities and I need to see it through. That's _my _office and _my _house._

Silence (not that she could really hear anything with her ears gone anyway) reigned in the car for far too long for her comfort. Then the display switched to the live news feed with subtitles. Seeing the images on the tiny screen drove it all home for her and then she broke down.

Suddenly all she could smell was blood in the car. It was goats blood but it felt to her like it was Liz's and Henry's cute little fawn and all her shelter animals. It was the blood of the abscessed cow that she had treated so many hours ago and the animals waiting for homes. It was Big Bertha, the parrot that Liz claimed was their mascot and the chickens that she hated so much and threatened almost daily to kill and cook.

Will Lennox and his squad were on the scene and Jazz showed her the feeds from their helmet-cams without her asking. She didn't need to. He always anticipated her needs. What they didn't anticipate was the first picture that showed up on the screen. She didn't remember fainting but the bloody, pulpy mess that was Liz's head haunted her subconscious.

* * *

><p>"Why attack an <em>animal rescue<em>?" Epps asked wiping sweat from his forehead. "And why kill this poor girl?"

"And all the animals," John muttered, sucking his teeth. He popped another stick of gum in his mouth and smacked it loudly. A few winced at the sound but said nothing.

Lennox grunted and dug in his pockets for a stick of Vick's. "It's not just here. It's up at the house too," he reminded them. "It really looks like they were going for Katie since they got both."

He barely jumped when Ironhide's holoform appeared next to him. "There've been reports of farm mutilations recently," his guardian grumbled. "That's why Katie was out and the offices were empty today. No sign of human casualties on those attacks though. Just all the animals."

"Could they be related?" Epps asked, digging his toe into the dirt. "Or just coincidence?"

Lennox shrugged. "It could go both ways. But the other attacks had no human casualties _and_ happened at night. This one happened during the day."

"Jazz said she was supposed to be in all day today," Ironhide said. "It was a busy day for her and she had appointments lined up until late."

John smacked his gum again. "Looks like evidence of targeting to me."

Silently they watched the EMTs wheel the body bag on the gurney out to their ambulance and load it in. "Hell of a way to go," Epps said, clicking his tongue. "Was it just me or did she look like she was tortured?"

"Maybe," Ironhide grunted. "Hell of a mess in there." They didn't chide him for insensitivity this time because it was certainly true.

They fell silent as the officer in charge walked over with a scowl on his face. His moustache had white chunks and shone with an oily sheen where he had rubbed a Vick's stick under his nose. "I don't like it," he growled to them when he was in earshot. "But I guess I gotta turn this investigation over to you."

"Thank you," Lennox said, trying to sound sincere. He hoped it didn't sound like he had a stick up his ass. "I really appreciate it."

The officer grunted. "Just catch 'im."

The four of them watched the officers drive away, some casting looks at them that ranged from angry to bloodthirsty to grateful at them as they loaded up and left. Lennox resisted the urge to smoke a cigarette. "Let's start from the beginning then. Who found them?"

Ironhide nodded to the nearby field and the car that was barely visible in the growing shadows. "The kid and his girl did. He hit a rat or something yesterday and brought it here. The vet let him help take care of it. They were coming back to check on it or something."

John smacked his gum. "Shit, that sucks."

"D'jya talk to them about it?" Epps asked Ironhide who shrugged. "I'll go do that then, I guess."

"They gave a report to the police," Ironhide rumbled.

"They might've left something out," Lennox pointed out. "Bobby, you got that."

Epps nodded and started wading through the grass. "We gonna walk through everything?" John asked, eyes on the blood-splattered door.

Grimly Lennox nodded. "Yeah," he said wearily. He was glad that he hadn't eaten much that day. "Yeah, we are."

* * *

><p>Jazz was holding her when she woke up and for a while she stared up at the ceiling of some unfamiliar room while she tried to piece together what happened. Her friend pressed a glass of water into her hands and as she drank she saw the red stains on her hands and it all came rushing back.<p>

_Liz?_ She signed hopefully.

Wordlessly Jazz shook his head. With one hand he steadied the glass which had begun to shake. He took the cup from her and put it on the side so she could sign.

_What happened?_

Jazz rearranged her on his lap so she could see what he signed. _We don't know yet. Will and some of his squad took over the investigation._

_How did you find out about it?_ She wanted to know.

She was only a little suspicious of his hesitation but she knew it was mostly because he didn't want to upset her any more than she already was. _The kid you were telling me about that hit the fawn? His name is Bluestreak. He's the guardian of Maggie - Margaret Madson - who is an advisor to Secretary of Defence._

Katie sighed. _I need a drink._ Jazz rubbed her back soothingly. _So now what?_

_I brought you to the Autobot base,_ Jazz signed to her. He combined the "A" sign with the sign for "face" for "Autobot" and she nodded when he paused to make sure she understood. _Ironhide will report in later to tell us anything they've found._

Katie swallowed hard. _I need...a bath. I need a bath._

_I got some clothes for you from some of the workers. They're in the bathroom over there. _Jazz told her.

She hugged him around the neck tightly before standing and hobbling to the bathroom. Though she wasn't injured but she _felt_ battered. A neat stack of folded clothes and towels lay on a shelf nearby and to her great joy there was a massive tub with a shower head. Attached was a smaller shower cubicle but it was still larger than the average half bath.

"God I love you, Jazz," she mouthed to herself as she went over to the tub and turned it on as hot as she could make it. Then she began to undress. A quick trip through the shower got the physical stains of the blood off her and as she sank into the bath which was almost too hot for her to bear helped her to pretend that it had never been there.

She thought back to Liz. By now the police or Will's squad would have called her parents and told them what had happened. What exactly they'd say she didn't know. Maybe they'd tell them that the same person that had been killing the livestock at night had attacked her. Maybe they'd say everything was under investigation.

A dark-skinned hand appeared and poured something into the bath from an unmarked bottle. She curled her legs into her chest and rested her head on her knees. The water began to foam and her skin tingled pleasantly. _From Ratchet_, Jazz signed. He put the bottle down and disappeared.

She should be mad at Jazz and that kid. What'd he say his name was? Bluestreak? The bad robots had surely come after them and that's why Liz was dead and all the animals and _God_ her _house_!

_I must be in shock_, she thought to herself as she uncurled and sank beneath the water. Nothing seemed to bother her anymore. The hot water burned her face and ears and eyelids and the burn in her lungs was a whole different pain.

A hand broke through the layer of bubbles and touched her shoulder. She followed it up and accepted the towel Jazz's holoform offered her to wipe her face. _Ratchet was worried,_ he signed in explanation when she glanced at him.

_Is he scanning me?_ Now she just felt tired and resigned and couldn't muster her emotions enough to be angrier.

Jazz's lips twitched. _He was. If I'm in here he stops._ Carefully he touched her cheek. _Are you okay?_

Katie sighed deeply and laid her head back against the rim of the tub. _I'm _tired.

_I can tell. You haven't said something snarky about me seeing you naked._

Katie didn't dignify that with a response, running her fingers through the bubbles in the cooling water. Wordlessly Jazz added more hot water. _Why aren't you more worried about me?_ She asked, staring at him until those unnatural blue eyes turned to meet hers.

_Because I know that right now you don't need someone to worry about you._ Jazz said simply. He said nothing about the near-invisible trickle of tears down her face or the subtle shaking of her lips and fingers.

_What do I need then?_

Jazz smiled. _You need fluffy towels, warm blankets, hot cocoa, and a big hug._ Katie looked dubious. _It's not going to fix everything but it will fix _you _until you can come to terms with everything._ She turned her head away and bit her lip. Once more she brought her knees to her chest and leaned her cheek against the bathtub. Jazz tapped her shoulder and she turned to look at him. _I made the cocoa myself,_ he wheedled, wiggling his eyebrows at her. He offered her what looked to be a very comfortable towel and she hesitated before standing and allowing him to wrap her up tightly. His arms lingered around her as he hugged her tightly to his holographic chest.


	5. Trippin'

**So I'm crazy and just realized that it was NaNoWriMo and once more I missed the start. But this time I caught it early enough so I decided to participate for once. This means that _Friendship Like Phosphorus_ will suffer a little and updates will be slower than I anticipated. Don't worry because Katie's a pushy sort of muse so her and Chief will push the story along now that the hardest part is out of the way. **

**~DC**

* * *

><p>Katie looked up as Jazz placed a massive pile of food in front of her. <em>Eat<em>, he signed sternly.

_I'm busy_, Katie signed back.

When she turned away Jazz slapped her shoulder to get her attention again. He grabbed the laptop away from her and put it behind him where she couldn't reach it. _No. You'll eat right now._

_No. I'll do no such thing,_ Katie signed angrily. _I have things to take care of, bills to pay, and patients to treat!_

Jazz sat down on the table, pulling his feet up on the bench next to her. _Yes. And you can do that _after _you eat. Right now you need food._

His friend leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. _I'm busy_, she signed again and reached for her notepad. She snatched it away before Jazz could and held it out of his reach.

Sighing, Jazz propped his elbow on his knee and his head on his fist. He stared her down.

_Look,_ she signed, tucking her notepad under a thigh to keep him from grabbing it. _I can't just drop everything because everything was destroyed. I still have to go to work._

_Why_? Jazz wanted to know. _Why can't you just take a break? You need it._

_I have patients I need to take care of and customers to see. People and animals won't stop having problems I can solve for a little thing like this._ Katie told him stubbornly and Jazz sighed.

_I'll make you a deal,_ he told her. _You stop and eat _this whole plate_. _I _will help you with the paperwork you have here. _And _I will help you find a place to continue your practice. You just need to let me take care of you._

Katie scowled at him but she couldn't deny that his help would be incredibly beneficial. _Don't you have duties here?_

That earned her a crooked smile. _I was awarded guardianship duties. So basically my only duty is you._ He reached down and pushed the plate of food toward her, smiling smugly when her stomach grumbled loud enough for him to hear. _So eat _this _while I take care of _that.

Grumbling to herself, Katie fell on the food, handing the notepad to Jazz as she did so.

"Jazz!" He turned as he climbed down from the table and waved to Sam and Mikaela as they approached. Bumblebee had been the one to call his name and seeing him in his holoform at the table, activated his own. "Hi Katie." He called, seeing the human eating. When she didn't respond, he glanced at Jazz who pointed at his ears and shook his head.

"We heard that you got attacked," Mikaela said as she sat down across from Katie. The deaf woman looked up in surprise, having not heard them approach. "Are you okay?"

Katie glanced at Jazz who signed a quick translation at her. "The batteries in her cochlear implants went out," he explained to the teens. "I'm gonna go out later and get more but right now she can't hear at all."

"Oh," Mikaela said, glancing at Katie who went back to eating though she kept her face turned toward them to see if they were speaking to her. "So what is she doing right now? Is she alright?"

Jazz frowned at her. "She's eating," he pointed out. "I'm helping her with some paperwork and what looks like the appointments she needs to make up for her practice."

"She's a doctor?" Sam asked, eyeing Katie's plate. Though she couldn't hear him she could see the intent in his gaze and she scowled at him, jabbing at his hand with her fork when he tried to steal from her plate. "Can they do that? Deaf people, I mean."

"She's a vet, isn't she, Jazz?" Bumblebee asked quickly, seeing the deepening frown on Jazz's face. "Runs - I guess it would be _ran_ - a large animal shelter?"

Katie glanced at Jazz. Under the table on his leg she signed, _they're talking about me, aren't they?_

_Yes. I got it, though,_ Jazz signed back against her leg. After casting a suspicious glance all around, Katie returned to eating through the large plate of food Jazz had given her. It warmed him (as the humans said) to know that she trusted him enough that she gave eating her full attention.

"Yeah, she specialized in farm animals mostly," Jazz answered Bumblebee. "But she ran a rescue shelter out of her practice. All of it was done on her property."

Bumblebee looked surprised. "So they _actually_ burned down her house?"

Mikaela looked remorseful and put a hand on Katie's wrist. The deaf woman jumped in surprise and dropped her fork. Glancing reproachfully at the teens, she picked up her fork and continued eating. "Please tell her I'm so sorry," Mikaela said to Jazz, patting Katie's wrist again.

_She says she's sorry,_ Jazz signed to Katie after tapping her elbow gently.

His friend made a face. _I don't see you doing any paperwork,_ she chided with a wry smile.

"She says it's alright," Jazz lied when Mikaela made a curious noise. Bumblebee's holoform's lips twitched but he didn't correct him. _I'll get to it,_ he signed to Katie. _I _did _find a few listings for a new office for your practice._

Katie slapped Sam's hand away again and used a piece of toast to mop up the last bits of food on her plate. _Are they in easy driving distance from the farms?_ She signed while she chewed.

_Of course. I know what to look for._ Jazz teased.

"There you are!" Those that could hear turned to look at Will as he approached. "I'd like to get a statement from you, if you don't mind. The police want one and I need to submit something - oh."

Having noticed that everyone's attention had shifted, Katie turned belatedly to look at Will. She smiled and waved at the captain as he sat beside her. Jazz tapped Katie's shoulder and signed what had been said to her beyond her hearing. "She says that she's up for it if you're okay with me being there to translate. Or she could type it out while you ask questions." Jazz told Will. "I recommend the second. Not that I don't mind being there, it's just that it'll probably make her feel better about everything."

"I'm amazed she's doing so well," Will murmured. "She's remarkably calm."

"I'm trying not to hover," Jazz said dryly. "Katie, I'll go and get working on this paperwork and see if I can go out and get more batteries for your cochlears," he said out loud for everyone's benefit while he signed for Katie's. "Are you okay to go with Will right now?"

Katie glanced at Will then signed back to Jazz who nodded. The holoform got up and left, taking the notepad with him. "Shall we go?" Will asked, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder in what he hoped was a clear gesture to Katie. To his relief, she nodded and grabbing her laptop, followed him out.

"Think she'd cook for me?" Sam asked, eyeing the plate. Mikaela elbowed him hard in the side and he yelped.

* * *

><p>Later that afternoon Will leaned back in his chair and frowned at the screen. He was so lost in thought that he jumped when Ironhide appeared behind him. His guardian grunted but didn't comment, instead eyeing the transcript on the computer.<p>

"Anything useful?" the Autobot asked gruffly.

Will twisted, cracking his back. "She told me about her practice and her clientele. Mostly farmers, organic growers, that sort of thing. All local, no one that the Decepticons would want to capture. She said that her father went missing when she was young and her mother is in prison. No siblings, no close family members holding any high or important position that could instigate an attack. Only Jazz."

"That could be reason enough," Ironhide pointed out. "We can increase the guard on her which shouldn't be too hard because she and Jazz are still trying to get back into working."

Will glanced at his friend. "Well they _do_ need a truck to go to the farms…"

Ironhide grunted. "No. I go through enough with you and that _human larvae_."

"She's not a _larvae_," Will laughed. "But maybe we can get Ratchet to do it. Jazz just isn't suited to going over those country roads and Katie mentioned that he might make her clients uncomfortable."

The black Autobot grunted again but Will was used to the language of his grunts after working with him for so long. When he said nothing more, Will took it to mean _Ratchet might actually like that _and probably also _better him than me._

Will sighed deeply, looking back at the computer. "I'll formulate this transcript into a better report and submit it to the police since they've been asking for it. Heavily edited, of course. I'll keep this transcript in our files." he ran a finger through his hair and gripped his neck. "Let's also keep Maggie and Bluestreak here longer so they have more support. Secretary Keller also for safety reasons."

"We can't keep them here forever," Ironhide pointed out gruffly.

"If they are the ones attacking livestock they'll hit again soon," Will replied. "And if they wanted Katie so bad - if that _was_ what they were after - that they burned her house _and_ practice, they'll try for her again."

Ironhide grunted again and Will interpreted it as _maybe we should add a tighter guard to everyone._

Will shrugged as if he had spoken out loud. "If we start stifling them then it will breed resentment," he pointed out. "And it may cause them to be less accommodating."

The Autobot rolled his eyes. "I'll speak to Prime," he grumbled. "See if I can have him part with Ratchet to put him on detail with Katie. I'll submit your recommendations to him as well." Will nodded and the holoform disappeared.

He reached for the mug on his desk and sighed when he found that it was empty. Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was well past lunch. He sighed again when the text tone on his phone went off.

'_Food. J made._' He really appreciated the simple message but for the love of it he couldn't figure out who it was from. Who was J?

A thought occurred to him and he texted back, '_Is this Katie?'_

'_Yes. Sorry.'_ A paused and then another text popped up. '_J gave me your number. He says you should eat.'_

Will's lips twitched. '_Okay, mom. ETA 5 minutes.'_

'_I'll keep Sam off your plate.'_ Chuckling, he put her name and number into his contacts, locked his computer, and left his office.

Katie was a different person by the time he got down to the mess hall. Evidently Jazz had gotten back from whatever errands he had been running and brought with him more batteries for her cochlear implants. Seeing him, she waved him over to the plate of food she had been jealously guarding, keeping her body between it and Sam.

"My implants work again," she said with a bright smile.

He returned it. "That's good. It was weird IM'ing you while we were sitting next to each other."

As he had hoped she laughed. "Ditto," she agreed and gestured to his plate. "Eat that before Sam steals it."

The teen pouted. "Why can't I have any?"

He yelped when Jazz's holoform appeared behind him. "Well I made it. So I get to decide."

"Gyros today," Katie told Will. "If he complains that it's not as good as his usual, it's because his plants were burned down or trampled."

Jazz threw himself dramatically into the seat on the other side of Katie. "Sacrilege! Those heathens!"

"No offense but I didn't expect you to be one for gardening or cooking," Will commented, gathering his gyro together and bringing it to his mouth.

The previously dead Autobot shrugged. "I didn't either but Katie has a lot of land out there. It gave me something to do while she was at the rescue." He made a face. "I had a whole crop of grapes, too."

"Is _that_ what you've been doing?" Katie wanted to know, pausing before taking a bite from her gyro.

Jazz nodded. "The grapes were coming in and softening. A few weeks more and I think I could've had a full harvest." He made a face as Katie smeared some tzatziki sauce on his arm when she patted it in sympathy. "I would've been bringing some in for you to taste in a few days to taste for sweetness."

Glancing at Will, Katie smiled. He was staring at the gyro in his hands. "For someone who can't taste or eat he cooks good, yeah?"

The captain nodded, eyes wide. They sat in silence for a while before Mikaela spoke up. "What made you take up gardening, Jazz? It doesn't seem like something you'd do."

"I think the fact that I had so much land had something to do with it," Katie said dryly. "_And_ I had my own car to take me to work and to my jobs."

Mikaela tilted her head to the side. "So why did you get another car?"

The vet got a strange look across her face. "A friend of mine offered to sell at a very good price for a Pontiac solstice." she said simply. "The driveway to my house and to the practice is paved but I didn't intend on driving him when I was going to work anyway."

Jazz laughed, seeing her discomfort at the question. "Not to mention I gotta provide for my girl, don't I? Growing her own produce is healthier and cheaper than having to do it through a grocery store."

The teen tilted her head to the side. "I guess," she said thoughtfully, distracted by Jazz.

The table rattled as Katie's phone rang and she glanced at her watch. Briskly she wiped her hands and snatched her phone up. "Sorry, I gotta take this."

Jazz frowned after her but distracted the others with the story of how he originally started farming and the arguments he got into with the farmers at the farmers market when his crops first came in.

* * *

><p>"Your face is plastered all over the news!"<p>

Katie rolled her eyes. "I'm _fine_," she told him. "I was out on a run when they hit. My assistant isn't, though." She glanced at her watch.

"That wasn't what I was getting at," he growled.

She scoffed. "Oh please, Keynes is a common enough surname," she informed him. "It's not like you want anything to do with me anyway."

"You forget who got you that farm."

"Yeah," Katie snapped back, annoyed. She closed her eyes briefly as a gust of wind kicked up fine dust into her face. "I got that farm from Gumma." Her watch rang and glancing at it, she saw that Jazz had texted her asking if she was all right. "Look, I have to go. I have a class today."

"You shouldn't be out," the man on the other end insisted.

Katie scoffed again. "You can't stop me. I'll do what I want and whether I want it or not, I have to go teach today. They have an exam coming up and today is the review day."

"No. You should come in to the base and let me protect you," the man insisted. "My project is really important and I can't risk you complicating it."

"Of course," Katie drawled. "That's the most important part. Me screwing up your life. Whatever. Look. I gotta go so I'll talk to you later. Or not if you're so busy." Without waiting for a response, she hung up on him.

A familiar silver form, covered in dust, rolled leisurely around the corner and she found herself smiling. As she approached, she saw her bags in the backseat. "Ready for your review session, babycakes?"

She patted his hood affectionately and dusted herself off quickly before sliding into his seat. "I am now," she said, relaxing as he began to drive.

"Wanna talk about it?"

She ran her fingers gently over his steering wheel. "Not really," she murmured.

He didn't press her. He never did.

* * *

><p>She got another call as class was getting out. It was an unfamiliar number so she answered it.<p>

"Dr. Keynes?"

She tucked the phone between her shoulder and ear as she packed her bag. None of her students looked like they wanted to ask her any questions so she continued packing. "This is her. To whom am I speaking?"

"I'm Suzie. Suzie Behre." Katie racked her mind. Where did she hear that name before? "I adopted a cat from you a few days ago?"

Her watch buzzed and she glanced down to find that Jazz had texted her again. '_What's the hold-up?'_

Katie shook her head and waved to the last few students as she left. "Oh. Hi Mrs. Behre. Is there something wrong?"

"No, not really," the woman assured her. "He's fine and healthy but it's just not working out with us. I tried calling your office but no one's answering and we wanted to be sure we could bring him back."

Shaking her head, she tossed her bags in Jazz's backseat. "Yeah, my office is usually closed on Fridays." she said, deciding not to mention that it was also completely destroyed and that there was an ongoing investigation. Judging by how oblivious she seemed she'd probably think that it was for something like pedophilia or something unrelated and very unfair to Liz's memory.

"Well we can't take him another night," Mrs. Behre informed her. "So please open the office so we can return him."

Katie bit her lip to keep herself from snapping something rude in response. "Opening my office tonight is impossible," she began but was quickly interrupted.

"_We can't keep it_," Mrs. Behre hissed. "It needs to go!"

"I cannot open the office," she repeated. "But I can come and pick him up."

There was a long silence. "I'm not comfortable with that." Mrs. Behre said primly and Katie pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's a safety issue."

She was tempted to remind her that she had her address on file. It was a requirement for adopting from her. "We can meet up somewhere. I just finished teaching a class at the community college."

There was a long moment of silence on the other end. "That is acceptable," Mrs. Behre sniffed. "I'll see you in an hour."

"Did she just hang up on you?" Jazz asked while Katie stared at the phone.

"I think so," she murmured wonderingly. Glancing at her watch she sighed. "J, will you call my appointment and push him back a half hour? We won't be able to make both of them."

Jazz groaned. "Bitches be trippin'," he grumbled. "He called, though, and asked to postpone anyway. I added it to your calendar."

"How did he call you?" Katie wanted to know, reaching to grab her papers from the backseat.

"He called your cell but I intercepted it since you were talking to Mrs. Crazyface."

Katie rolled her eyes. "Don't make a habit of it."

Her friend chuckled. "Never." He promised.

* * *

><p>When Mrs. Behre finally showed up, Katie groaned inwardly. She was late by a half hour and Disney music was blaring from her Cadillac Escalade. Pasting a polite smile on her face, she stepped out of Jazz, praying that he wouldn't do something inappropriate.<p>

The car parked two stalls down and just seemed to crack like an egg. The woman she guessed had to be Mrs. Behre yanked the poor cat's carrier out of the hands of two toddlers that seemed to think that their purpose in life was to shake the carrier. Katie winced as she heard a loud _thump_ from the cat hitting the side of the carrier but said nothing.

The other kid in the car began to wail for 'Bobby' to come back. Immediately the two toddlers that had been shaking the carrier lunged for it and once more Mrs. Behre yanked it out of their reach, wildly swinging it over her head. Katie caught a glimpse of wide green eyes full of feline terror.

Quickly Katie took the carrier away from the woman and held it over her head to keep the toddlers from reaching for it. One kicked at her ankle before Mrs. Behre yanked him back.

"Take it away," Mrs. Behre sniffed. She reached into the backseat (where the unseen child still wailed for 'Bobby') and flung a large beach bag full of stuff at her. "We will not be coming to your shelter any longer."

Briefly she considered telling the woman that the common practice for returning an adopted animal was to include a "review" of the animal and why it was returned but she really didn't want anything more to do with this disagreeable woman. The toddlers continued to try and take the carrier back while the woman continued to walk away. When she noticed that the kids weren't following her, she sent Katie such a poisonous look that she was momentarily baffled before yanking the kids away and all but throwing them in the car.

"_What_ was _that_?" Katie turned to find one of her students staring after the escalade as it pealed out of the parking lot.

Katie sighed, bringing the cat carrier down to a more reasonable level. "Bitches be trippin'," she informed him solemnly. She could hear Jazz's holoform cackling in the car.

* * *

><p>They were halfway to the base when her phone rang. Again. She was understandably reluctant to answer it.<p>

"You don't have to," Jazz pointed out while she considered the number.

Shaking her head, she answered. "I hear you had some trouble with a little fire sprite," Katie paused and looked at the number again.

"Chief?"

The man on the other end of the line laughed. "The one and only. Don't tell me you forgot about me, Katie Cat?"

As always he startled a laugh out of her. "No, not at all. How did you get this number?"

"I may be old but I can still work a phone book," she was informed. "_And_ your name was plastered all over the news."

Katie rolled her eyes. Jazz's console switched to a screen and typed _Are you okay? Who is it?_

_It's fine,_ she signed, tucking the phone between her ear and shoulder. _It's...a family friend._

"I'm fine though," she told Chief. "I was out on a run when it happened."

Chief clucked his tongue on the other end. "Damn, that's some luck you got there. Sorry to hear about your girl Liza."

"Liz," she corrected quietly. "Her name was Liz."

The man sighed heavily. "Look, why don't you come by and visit? Have dinner with this old man and we can catch up."

_I had no dinner plans,_ Jazz typed to her. _I thought we'd go out and find a nice diner or something but we can swing by_.

"When would be good?" Katie asked, shaking her head. "I can't make tonight but I can do tomorrow."

Helpfully, Jazz pulled up her calendar on the screen and she thanked him absently. "Yeah," Chief agreed. "Tomorrow's fine."

"Who was that?" Jazz asked when the plans were made and she hung up.

He didn't like that she hesitated so long before answering. "An old family friend," she said evasively. "Look, Jazz, you mind if I take my work truck to this?"

If he had lips he'd frown at her. Instead he made do with growling his engine a little. "No," he told her tensely. "But I'm going to be nearby just in case something happens. You were attacked once and I wasn't there to help. This time I will be."

Katie smiled sadly and patted his steering column. "Thanks, butthead," she said affectionately. Jazz just grunted. "Now about that diner…"

* * *

><p><strong>Katie's "experience" with the phone actually sort of happened to me. One day I just got so many strange calls that I was incredibly reluctant to answer calls from strange numbers but I had to so I did it anyway. <strong>

**Mrs. Behre is also based off a woman I met once whose demeanor swung from paranoid to simply crazy. It's a good thing I'm so mellow is all that I can say. **

**What I really wanted to say with this bottom piece is thank you for everyone who seems to be enjoying this. It's really nice to get the little notifications of people following or favoriting it and it helps my Katie-muse to push the story she wants to tell forward. So thanks for all your support and I promise I'll try not to forget it while I'm writing my submission for NaNoWriMo!**

**~DC**


	6. Family

**Hey guys, sorry for the delay, I promise I haven't been neglecting you (much)!**

**I just finished my story for NaNoWriMo - _thank God_ - and will be focusing back on _Friendship Like Phosphorus_. Thank you so much for bearing with me._  
><em>**

**~DC**

* * *

><p>"Hey," Katie looked up in surprise at the quiet greeting and gentle tap on the table. Maggie looked just as tired as that time she and Henry had come to feed the fawn. "Can I sit here?"<p>

The way she asked, very quiet and almost nervous, nearly broke Katie's hear. It was as if she expected her to say no. "Yeah, sure, of course," Katie told her and Maggie sighed into her seat. With a wry smile she found an empty mug and poured the other woman a mug of coffee from the carafe beside her. "Jazz's special blend."

Maggie fell upon it, drinking it down so quickly that Katie was briefly worried that she'd scald herself. She refilled the mug when the other woman put it down. "Thank God for you," Maggie blurted. "You and Jazz. This coffee is _amazing_."

"I'd tell him you said so," Katie said dryly. "But it'd just go straight to his head, you know?"

The other woman chuckled. This time she just sipped at her coffee. "I wanted to apologize," she said suddenly. "They're telling me that it wasn't because of us but I can't help but think it was, you know? I should've told you."

It took Katie a minute or so to realize what she was talking about. "Oh. No, it wasn't you. I know it wasn't." She fiddled with her mug, swishing the coffee remaining in it around the sides. "Maybe it convinced them just a little more thinking that I was friends with you and Hen - sorry, Bluestreak, They already had their reason I'm sure." She bit her lip in case she said too much. "What they did was a terrible thing. Terrible people do terrible things."

Jazz appeared a moment later, bearing a large tray of food. He didn't appear surprised to see Maggie, greeting her warmly enough and putting a plate in front of her. "Breakfast sandwiches this morning, ladies," he said. "Toasted sourdough, arugula, grilled tomato, fried egg, and ham."

"Thanks, babycakes," Katie teased.

The Autobot winked at her. "Anything for you, honey bun." Cackling, he headed back to the kitchen.

Maggie was looking at her oddly. "Is something wrong?" Katie asked, cutting her sandwich. "Are you vegetarian? I'm sorry...uh."

"No, it's not that," Maggie said quickly, waving her hands. "It's...uh...this might be a very personal question but...ah...are you two…?"

Realizing what she was asking, Katie flushed. "_Oh!_" She pressed her hands to her burning cheeks. "Oh, _no_. No, no, we're just roommates. Really." She bit her lips. "Friends."

Maggie was by no means stupid. You couldn't be stupid in a job like hers. The reaction, the almost perfunctory response...it wasn't the first time someone's asked her that. It wasn't practiced...but it wasn't the first time she'd said it. She could see it in the precise pauses between words and phrases and she grinned. There was the fact that they both knew he was an Autobot, not her roommate technically. "Oh...so he hasn't asked you out yet?"

Katie choked on her bite of sandwich. For a brief moment Maggie worried that she'd be the one to kill poor Katie, not the Decepticons, but the worry passed when the vet drank deeply from her mug of coffee. She coughed a few times, face bright red, and wouldn't meet Maggie's eyes. "No, I'm sorry, it's not like that. We're just friends. Really good friends. Honest, I swear!"

What kind of friend would she be if she didn't tease her? Smirking, Maggie cut her own sandwich. "It's not only a river in Egypt, you know," she said as she brought her sandwich to her lips. A little tiny party of her felt bad that Katie wasn't enjoying her food because she kept choking. It really was quite delicious. "I don't care if it goes straight to his head, this is _fantastic_. Has he thought about opening a restaurant?"

Katie latched on to the new topic like a drowning man to a buoy. "I was going to surprise him. I'd seen a space for rent that I could buy and help him start one but with this whole fiasco...the money I set aside would need to go to repairs for the practice and shelter and rent…"

Just like that the conversation fell away and Maggie felt bad. "Look," she said, reaching over and grabbing Katie's hand. "I know it's far but if you ever need anything you can come to me in DC. It might not be what you want but if nothing works out, come live with me and Blue. We'd _love_ to have you."

"I appreciate it," Katie said with a wide smile. Her cheeks still burned but she was sincere. "I'm going to try and stick it out here. Not _try_, I'll do it. I have enough saved up." She toyed with a leaf of arugula, rolling it between her fingers. "I'm just so _mad_, you know?" she asked suddenly. "I don't mind so much that they destroyed everything. A house is a house, an office is an office. I lost _things_ but not something too important. I mean…" she bit her lip. "The house was gumma's - my grandmother's. I remember visiting it so it has _memories_ but it's...it's just _things_, you know? Liz…" her voice caught and she pinched and picked at her sandwich. "It's terrible what they did to her. Just terrible." To her horror her voice shook. "I know they're...I don't know, evil but to do that…"

Maggie swallowed a lump in her throat and reached over, putting a hand over Katie's. "I've learned to not question it," she said. "They're mean, they're evil, whatever. Evil people say evil things to make good people cry and doubt."

"Isn't that from a book?" Katie asked, frowning.

The other woman flapped her other hand. "I'll ignore for a moment my shock that you recognized it," she said dryly. "Regardless it's true."

Katie smiled weakly at her. "It's weird," she admitted. "Aside from feeling bad that I put Liz in danger, the most regret is that I had almost enough to help J with that restaurant. I was _so close_. Now I have to use it to find another place to live."

"Why not live at the base?" Maggie wanted to know, picking her sandwich up again. "If that's all you need? If you don't need an office, just work from here. They can't bring their animals here but you can make house calls, right?"

"That's mostly what I do," Katie admitted. "The rescue was a side thing and I needed a vet office to care for them. Most of the time I do just go straight to their herds because I don't want them stressed out from the travel to get to me. I just...I don't _need_ to live here. I'm fine. Really. And I don't want to impose."

The door opened and Lennox, Ironhide, and Epps walked in. Seeing them, they fell silent. "Is that coffee?" Lennox asked tiredly, spying Katie's carafe.

Katie smiled and poured them each a mug. "Jazz made it."

They groaned obscenely as they drank it down. Across the cafeteria, in the kitchen, Katie saw Jazz ask, "_More coffee?"_ She nodded and his head disappeared. A moment her watch buzzed and she looked down at it. '_More sandwiches?'_

"Hey, J wants to know if you want some breakfast sandwiches?" Katie said, looking up at Lennox and Epps.

"_Yes_," Lennox said with feeling.

Epps laughed. "Food made by someone that can't taste or smell? Nah, I'll pass." He said at the same time.

"I'll have his," Lennox said immediately. Laughing, Katie texted Jazz the orders. A minute later, Jazz came out, holding a tray of plates in one hand and another carafe of coffee in the other.

"Hey boogaboo," Jazz said, putting the plates down in front of Lennox and Epps and the full carafe down at the center of the table.

Katie smirked at him. "Hey bumperbutt."

Lennox's brows went straight up toward his hairline. "Kinky," Epps said.

"I know, right?" Maggie asked, lips twisting. Immediately Katie turned bright red and took a big bite of her sandwich. "Wow, you can sure fit a lot in your mouth."

Jazz cackled as he took the empty carafe and walked away. "You have no idea," he called over his shoulder and Katie actually started choking. Taking pity on her, Maggie slapped her back.

Looking at them, Ironhide shook his head. "That's gross," he commented to no one in particular.

"You have to believe in true love," Epps said, cutting his sandwich. "Ooh, there's an egg here."

Lennox moaned lewdly when he bit into his sandwich, egg yolk running down his chin. "That looks all kind of wrong there," Epps told him flatly.

"Yuu haff nuu idee," Lennox said with his mouth full. He swiped at the yolk with the back of his hand until Katie wiped his chin for him. "_Please_ don't let him stop cooking."

Maggie glanced at Katie out of the corner of her eye. "_Well_, Katie had been saving up to get him a restaurant."

Surprised, Lennox looked at Katie who shushed Maggie. "It was supposed to be a surprise," she hissed. "I had saved up a lot and almost had enough to get him a lease at a nice place with enough of a budget for him to decorate the way he wants. But I'll have to put it back a bit after this whole fiasco."

"What's stopping you?" Epps asked, brow furrowing. "Is it your practice?"

Katie shook her head. "I need to use those funds with my emergency funds to pay for rent. Jazz and I had backed up my information from my records at my practice so all I have to do is just make ranch calls which is what I normally do most of the time anyway."

"Rent for what, an apartment?" Lennox asked between bites. "Look. Just stay here. Everyone would feel better knowing we can keep you safe here. If you only make house calls that's fine because we can't support any livestock and it would just be a security risk." He groaned as he took a bite. "Dude. I'll invest in that restaurant. He'd make a _fortune_."

The vet pursed her lips. "I don't know if he'd want it," she said at last.

Lennox smiled at her. "If you want it to be just from you, that's fine. I'm just saying that I at least am here for you."

Katie returned the smile. "I didn't mean to make you think that. I'm just...unsure. I don't even know if he'd want to."

"Dude," Maggie said, finishing her sandwich. "You know. You just don't want to admit it. You're scared to think about it." She smiled to take the sting from her words. "He'll love it. He loves to cook." Her eyes sparkled and she smirked mischievously at the the other woman. "Maybe you could go into the business with him. That'd be cute."

She made a face at Maggie. "Stop that," Katie said, rolling her eyes. "We're just friends. Up until my house burned down, we were sort of roommates."

"That you were thinking about buying a restaurant for," Epps pointed out, taking a hesitant bite. "Oh God, I'd invest in this restaurant too. Sweet Mary mother of Jesus."

Katie laughed. "He loves it. But don't praise him too much or it'll go straight to his head."

Epps groaned. "Let it."

"Speak of the devil," Ironhide rumbled as Jazz emerged from the kitchen.

"How're the sandwiches guys?" He asked, sliding into a place beside Katie.

Maggie rolled her eyes. "As if you need to ask." She stood. "Thanks, Jazz, but I need to get going. So sorry I couldn't stay longer."

The Autobot chuckled. "It's quite all right. I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"Ha!" she called over her shoulder. "Understatement of my month!"

"They were saying that you should open a restaurant," Ironhide rumbled, watching Lennox lick his fingers clean. "That is disgusting, William."

Lennox snorted. "If you had taste buds or nostrils to smell with you'd understand." Just to spite his guardian he licked his fingers again and groaned.

"Disgusting," Ironhide repeated.

"Lewd," Epps insisted.

Jazz laughed. "I've considered it," he admitted. "I certainly had enough time to do it while Katie was out on her runs. Somehow it just didn't seem appropriate, you know?"

"It's bizarre," Ironhide agreed. "What's your fascination with it?"

Epps groaned, mopping up the yolk with a piece of bread. "Who cares, he's _great_ at it."

"He has a green thumb too," Katie murmured. "He used to grow most of his ingredients in the garden out back." Her phone rang and glancing at her watch, frowned at the number. "Excuse me."

They watched as she literally sprinted for the door. It swung shut as she answered. "Did anyone else find that weird?" Epps asked, reaching across the table for the food left on Katie's plate.

Absently, Jazz slapped his hand away. "It happens every once in a while," he said, frowning at the door. Through the windows they could see Katie pacing around outside. "She gets a call that she doesn't let me hear. Once she had me pull over on the side of the road and she jumped over the guardrail."

"What is it? Who is it?" Lennox asked, frowning deeply.

Jazz shrugged. "She won't tell me and I don't want to pry." He paused then looked around. "Have you guys seen a cat, by chance?"

The two men recoiled and Ironhide's face closed off. "_Cat_?" He demanded.

"He won't piss on you, don't worry," Jazz said, waving his hand dismissively. "I don't think Katie left him in the room but she might have and I have to feed him. Or she does before we go anywhere." He looked up as the door slammed open. "Are you okay, pudding pop?"

Katie glanced at them, her face stormy. "Yes," she said shortly. "I'm going to feed Snowy." She made a move to go to the kitchen but Jazz grabbed her wrist.

"Just go to the room, I'll bring his food over. He's probably going crazy right now." Absently and perhaps looking a little relieved, she spun and walked quickly out the door.

Trading glances with the men and Ironhide, Jazz stood. "Yeah, go take care of that, man," Epps said quietly. "Thanks for the sandwiches. Let us know if there's anything we can do to help."

Jazz smiled. "Thanks," he said just as quietly. "I appreciate it." Gathering the plates, he walked back into the kitchen, emerging a moment later with two small bowls cupped in his hands.

Standing, Lennox grabbed the carafe. "This is going to my office. I'm claiming it." Twisting the cap shut, he ran as Epps gave chase.

Left behind, Ironhide sighed and shook his head. "Humans."

Snowy was curled up on Katie's belly when he entered the room, covering most of her torso with his noble bulk. He twisted to look at Jazz and seemed to consider whether he wanted to leave Katie's lazy pets for the food in the holoform's hands. When Katie nudged him gently he stretched and climbed off her to eat.

"What's wrong," Jazz asked quietly, moving to sit on the edge of the bed.

Katie sighed. "Nothing," she said, still staring at the ceiling. "Just...my father's going to be at dinner tonight. We don't have the best relationship and I'm not looking forward to it." Her head lolled to the side toward him. "I don't really want to talk about it, Jazz."

He rested a hand on her wrist. "You don't have to if you don't want to," he assured her. "But if you do, I'm here."

She smiled weakly at him. "You always are," she murmured, eyes bright and over-full. The eye closest to the mattress let loose a tear that streaked down her face.

"Always and forever, sugar muffin." he said with a wink. As he had hoped, she laughed.

"Sap."

* * *

><p>Jazz took Katie to pick up her truck and followed her to her errands. After a moment of hesitation they stopped for lunch then went to the grocery store. Truck loaded with groceries meticulously approved by Jazz, they returned briefly to the base to restock the kitchens. The chefs there weren't amused that their spaces were invaded so thoroughly by Jazz but acquiesced and gave him a few shelves in her refrigerators. Katie thanked them profusely when Jazz went back to get the second load.<p>

After a few tries and a few questions, Katie found Lennox's office. "Can I borrow a few minutes of your time?"

He smiled warmly at her. "Give me a minute to finish this paperwork and then we can talk okay?"

"Sure," she sat in the offered chair, picking at her pants. Nervously she bit her lip.

Lennox leaned over the desk and smiled at her. "Now, what can I do for you?"

She hesitated, rolling her bottom lip between her teeth. "My client paid me a bonus today. I have enough to get his restaurant," she blurted. "I just need to know what I would need to do if I wanted to stay on base, if it's still an option."

Risking a glance up, she saw Lennox's grin light up his face. "That's great!" He dug around his desk for a small folder that he picked up and waved at her. "This is actually your paperwork. You need to sign a few NDAs, mostly to have it on paper and official and all that. After you sign we can go about getting you your own room and space."

Katie blinked. "It's that easy?"

"On your end," Lennox said with a laugh. "I'll talk to logistics about getting you some clothes and furniture, we'll find a place for you to live on base." Katie took the folder from him and fingered through the pages. "You just worry about your practice and getting the lease on that place."

Her lips pursed. "I can't believe it's as easy as that."

Lennox laughed again. "It's not, really, we'll be there to bother you for signatures and stuff but there isn't much we can do since you've already had contact with Jazz for so long. On the Autobots' end you're all set and they've strong-armed the government into accepting it for the most part. Now it's just…" he shrugged.

"Paperwork."

"Paperwork," he agreed. "Sign those forms and get them back to me, take your time to look over them, make sure I see them and where you put them on this mess so I don't lose them."

"I'm going out to dinner with a few family friends tonight so I'll be back late," she said apologetically. "I'll get it signed now if you don't mind me reading over them first."

Lennox grinned. "By all means, take your time." He gestured to his pile. "I'll get back to sorting out this mess and you do you."

If he was surprised at the speed with which she signed the paperwork he gave no indication, accepting the folder back with a smile. "Nothing I haven't signed or written before," she explained with a wry smile even though he didn't say anything. "Is that really it?"

"It seems weird, right?" Lennox said with a chuckle. "No, I'll take care of the rest of it. We can provide you with some clothes, they'll be army issue if you don't mind. There aren't many humans at this particular base but a bunch of us can pitch in normal clothes too if you need any. Come in," he called when someone knocked on the door.

Jazz poked his head in. "Ah, there you are," he said to Katie. "Am I interrupting something?"

"We're just talking about me living here," Katie said lightly and he narrowed his eyes. To Lennox, she said, "I have some things in storage, not much but it'll do fine. And I have money saved up. We'll be fine." She glanced at her watch. "I have an appointment I need to go to so I'll see you later, Will."

"You have my number," the captain replied. "If you need anything just tell me." He winked and grabbed his phone while they walked out.

It was a message from Epps who he had texted while Katie was signing her forms. '_HELL YEAH. I'm in'_. Shaking his head, he composed a message to Katie.

* * *

><p>Jazz saw Katie glance at her wrist where it was synced with her phone and grin. Curiosity ate at him but he forced himself to respect her privacy and not peek, especially when she quickly closed the message and squinted up at him.<p>

But slag did he want to know.

"You about ready to be my assistant for the day?" Katie teased, shading her eyes to squint up at his transformed form.

"Eh," he said, shrugging. He slipped smoothly into his Pontiac form. "I'm actually not going with you to the appointment. Ratchet will."

Her brows snapped together. "Excuse me?"

"They wanted another guard on you, just in case." Jazz explained with a smirk. "So he'll be your assistant, not me."

She scowled. "Yeah. A _chartreuse_ Hummer would be great."

"Better than a Pontiac Solstice," Jazz pointed out. "They got rid of his decals on the side and toned down his paint job a bit so it'd be easier. I'll meet you later, but he'll drive you over. Or if you insist on being stubborn you can drive down separately."

Katie glared at him. "And what are you doing?" she demanded, knowing that she was being unfair. Both knew that Ratchet had rubbed her the wrong way the last time they had met.

"I have a meeting with Prime," he said, wiggling his front wheels in a car shrug. His holoform emerged from the front seat and walked over. "But it probably won't be long. I'll meet you at the farm and we can make a stupid looking caravan driving around to the rest of your appointments." Because they both knew that there was no way that Katie would ride in Ratchet's cab short of having her truck blown up.

Groaning, Katie hugged Jazz. "Fine. I'll see you later, bubble butt."

Jazz winked at her as she pulled away. "I'm already counting the seconds, peaches n' cream."

Laughing, Katie walked toward her truck where Ratchet waited. "Has Jazz informed you that I will be taking you to your appointment?"

"No, you will be _accompanying_ me. Like hell you're driving me."

He frowned, or at least she thought he did. "It doesn't make sense for _both_ of us to drive," he said. A sensible point but Katie was nothing if not stubborn.

"Nope, I'm driving myself, you can follow or not as you like," she said, climbing into her truck. Her wrist buzzed as she started the car, _INCOMING CALL: RATCHET_ scrolling across the screen. She answered and put it on speaker.

"_This really is inefficient,"_ he said disapprovingly as she put her truck into drive.

Katie barked a laugh. "Look, short of shooting my truck, you're not stopping me. Like _hell_ I'm riding with you. I don't have time to argue, I have places to be and appointments to make."

Over the phone, clear as day, Ratchet sighed. "_Why are you so difficult?"_

"I'm not being difficult, you are," she said glibly. "Look, I have to make another call so shush." Feeling for her phone, she hung up on him before he could respond. Scrolling through her contacts, she found the number she was looking for and hit _CALL_.

* * *

><p>"Ramone!" Jazz laughed as he followed the sounds of an argument at the top of a human's lungs.<p>

The rancher, a man Jazz was familiar with, grinned from where he leaned against the fence. "Hey, J!" he called. "Katie told me you'd be by later. Nice to see ya."

Jazz shook the offered hand with a grin. "Hey, Archie," he greeted. "I see they're getting along well."

"Them? Ha!" Archie laughed. "Like an old married couple, always squabbling and nitpicking at each other. Where'd she find him?"

Leaning on the railing beside the rancher, Jazz looked for his friend. "_You're not a farrier!_" He followed the sounds of the exasperated yell and watched as Katie, splattered in mud, moved in to the downed bull calf.

"Just because _you_ can't doesn't mean _I_ can't," came Ratchet's insistent voice and Jazz found the Autobot in an entirely other paddock, stroking a horse's nose. "He needs his hooves trimmed!"

Archie elbowed Jazz lightly in the arm. "My farrier's coming Monday," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Hey, man!" one of the hands restraining the bull called with a laugh. "Don't irritate the woman with the ball cutters!"

Done, Katie stepped back and wiped her cheek on her sleeve.

"I'm not afraid of her," Ratchet sniffed, inspecting the horses. "She merely feels threatened by my presence because I am more skilled and have more experience in the medical profession than she does."

The field hands all _OOOOOOH_ed as Katie whirled, fury in her eyes. Laughing good-naturedly they brought out the next bull. "What I wouldn't give to castrate you with the damn bulls!" she roared. Archie and Jazz giggled from their place at the fence, stuffing their fists in their mouths to keep from alerting their entertainment. "You're _useless_ here. _Why_ did I bring you along?"

Leaning over, Jazz nudged Archie with an elbow. "Hey, can I get some of those testicles?"

Chuckling, Archie waved his hand. "Sure. Take 'em all. If you're brave enough to eat them they're all yours."

"I always wanted to try cooking them," Jazz confided in him, watching Ratchet completely ignore Katie in favor of exploring the horses' paddock. "And judging by the way Katie's grinding her teeth she'll enjoy pretending they're his."

Archie hooted in laughter, drawing Katie's attention. She scowled at Jazz and pointed her scalpel at him, backing away from the calf. "I hate you so much right now," she called over.

"Archie's giving me the testicles," Jazz called back over. "I'll cook them up and you can pretend they're his."

Katie barked a laugh as the calf was released and the next one was brought in. "Two more now, Dr. Keynes," one of the hands called over and she nodded.

"Good, we're making great time." She answered, taking a deep breath.

"Hey," Archie said suddenly, leaning close to Jazz. "I heard 'bout her place. They say her assistant was beaten to death?"

Jazz sighed, hanging his head. "Yeah," he murmured quietly. "It was bad. They torched the place. House and practice both. All the animals she had, all the rescues, went down with everything."

The rancher sucked on his teeth, shaking his head. "That's terrible, terrible luck there." Jazz nodded in agreement. "Look, is there anything I can do to help? I don't got much but I'd like to do something to help, you know?"

Smiling, Jazz clapped him on his shoulder. "We'll do fine. We're still alive and Katie and I have enough saved up that it isn't too much of a hardship. We appreciate it though." Archie didn't look convinced. "We really appreciate your loyalty and your generosity," Jazz told him quietly. "It means a lot to us. But we'll manage."

Archie didn't look convinced. "If you're sure…"

"Really," Jazz insisted as Katie finished with the last bull and cleaned her instruments. "We'll manage just fine."

The rancher grunted. "Well, if you need anything, you just let me know, you hear?"

Jazz smiled. "Thanks. I'll let Katie know too. It means a lot to hear that."

"Let me know what?" the woman asked, handing her kit to Jazz so she could duck between the slats of the fence.

Archie slung an arm around her shoulder. "That if you need anything, you tell me. I heard about what happened to your house and I want to help however I can."

"Everyone's heard," Katie told him dryly. Then she smiled to take the sting from her words. "But nonetheless I appreciate it. Thanks, Archie." Glancing back at the man in the horse paddock, she edged toward her truck. "Let's just leave him there. See if he notices."

Laughing, Jazz and Archie followed her to her truck, watching as she rolled her coat up and tossed it into the bed and stowed her bag in the backseat. "Where to next?" Jazz asked, heading to his car.

"Follow me," Katie told him, accepting her payment from Archie. "Thanks, Arch," she told him. "You have my number, just call if you need anything." The rancher waved as she climbed into the cab.

As they were driving down the driveway, slowly for the sake of Jazz's suspension, her watch buzzed. It was a text from Ratchet. A moment later, Jazz called and patched Ratchet through.

"_That was juvenile,"_ he said with a sniff. Glancing in the rear-view mirror she could see the green Hummer bouncing along the driveway behind her, going a little too fast so he could catch up.

Katie sniffed and drove around Jazz as he came to the edge of the driveway. "Serves you right." Jazz fell in behind her, leaving a grumbling Ratchet to bring up the rear.

"_So are we up for another appointment?"_ Jazz asked. "_Your calendar says you have one."_

"Oh," Katie blinked. "Mr. Hasegawa? No, he cancelled just before I got to Archie's. Guess I didn't change that one. No, I have a surprise for you."

"_Is it that building we stopped by earlier?"_ Ratchet cut in.

Katie ground her teeth. "You. Hush. I _told_ you it was a surprise." She threw her truck into park and got out, waiting for Jazz to do the same and activate his holoform. When he approached, she gave him a thick envelope. "Here's your lease. I bought it for a year and Lennox and Epps texted me that they'd come down and help us move in and arrange everything the way you want." She pulled out a key from her pocket and opened the door, leading the shocked holoform inside.

"What's this?" Jazz asked, looking down at Katie.

Katie smirked, wrapping an arm around his waist. "Well, it's whatever you want it to be but we all thought you'd like to open a restaurant or something?"

"A restaurant?" Jazz asked faintly as Ratchet entered.

The medic sniffed, crossing his arms across his chest. "You'd never get the proper permits for it."

"If Lennox and Epps support it I don't see why he won't," Katie argued. "If you want I can help work when I'm not on call which, now that I don't have much of," she told Jazz. "They also say they'll invest a modest amount if you feed them when they help you."

Jazz laughed and swept her into a hug. "You got me a restaurant?"

"Leased," Katie corrected. "I leased you one for a year. Maggie also thinks it's also a good idea."

Still laughing, he swung her around in the air, ignoring how she flailed in alarm. "I'm so happy I could kiss you."

"Please don't," Katie said dryly. "I might puke in your mouth."

* * *

><p>"Is that my little Katie Cat?" Chief asked as she climbed out of her truck.<p>

Laughing, she pulled the plates of dessert Jazz had baked out of the back of her truck and walked up the porch. "I brought some beers if you want, they're in the truck."

"Nah," Chief said, kissing her cheek warmly. "I got the good stuff in here."

She made a face. "So long as it's not Coors or Miller I'm good."

"If that's what your father brought then I would be seriously disappointed in him," Chief told her gravely though his eyes sparkled with mischief. He slapped her shoulder and peeled back the corner of the foil covering her platter. "What's this?"

"J - my roommate, that is - made it. He says it's called a 'peanut butter muchie'. It's layers of cake, marshmallow, and chocolate krispies." Katie explained. "He offered to make some rocky mountain oysters but I wasn't sure how you'd take eating it so we left them behind."

Chief's brows rose. "Wow. Dare I ask where you got those?"

Katie smirked as she followed him inside. "They're fresh, that's all I'll say."

"Here, you can just put that in the kitchen. I don't have any dessert so it's perfect." Chief said, gesturing toward the room in question. "Look who just showed up," he called, leading her into the living room.

"Well it's about time," the woman on the couch said, smirking. Katie forgot how much she annoyed her even just hearing her voice. "I was starving and Chief wouldn't let us eat."

The man turned and Katie stared at her father, who she hadn't seen in person since she left for college. He looked older, with steel-grey hair and wrinkles around his eyes and mouth. Creases were permanently etched across his forehead, giving him the appearance of always frowning. "Should I be calling you 'doctor' now?" he asked in greeting, back stiff and perfectly straight.

"Considering I'm certified as a veterinarian in the state of California and have a doctorate's degree in veterinary medicine, I'd say that's a 'yes, you should call me doctor'." Katie informed him just as stiffly.

Chief frowned deeply. "Now here's this, you two, you better get along."

Katie bent to kiss his cheek. "I'll try, Chief," I promised. "I'm starving, what've you got to eat?"

"Chief made something, right? Or was it frozen?" the woman on the couch asked. "I bet it was frozen."

This time it was Chief that scowled at her. "I'm old, not incapable, Adalie" he informed her with all the dignity of his 90 years.

"So take out, then," Adalie said and giggled at her own joke.

"I don't know why I bother," Chief muttered under his breath to Katie as he tugged her into the kitchen. "I try to be nice to her and she just insults me."

Katie snorted, pulling out the boxes of food. It _was_ take out food and leftovers but even though her palate was "civilized" by Jazz, Katie was glad to be there for the company (of Chief) more than the food. "That's the way she is, Chief," she said grimly, popping the lids and inhaling the smells. "But this _does_ smell good. She doesn't mean any harm, that's just the way she is."

The man grunted and at his gesture she brought down plates, cups, and utensils. "If you got good beer in your truck you may as well bring it in. He got Coors and Corona."

"I get us some Guinness," Katie told him, heading for the door. "Be right back."

"Atta girl," he called after her.

When she returned with a six pack, she left all but two on the porch and walked in. "So it _was_ take out," Adalie was saying when she entered. "You're getting a bit old, Chief. Maybe you should go somewhere else."

"Blunt," Katie informed her, putting her beers on the counter. "And rude. You're a guest here."

"He's almost 90!" Adalie reminded her. "He shouldn't be living alone."

Opening the beers briskly, Katie snorted. "He can do what he wants. And if you knew anything you'd know that he really doesn't live alone, you just think he is so you can kick him out and steal his house." Katie turned to Chief. "Do you want a glass or straight from the bottle?"

"Straight," Chief grunted, taking it from her hands.

Katie patted his shoulder. "Go sit, I'll make your plate."

"Can he even eat this stuff?" Adalie asked, lips wrinkling. "He'll probably die from all the grease."

"He can and he does but only on special occasions," Katie snapped. "Stop pretending like you care."

"Katheryne," her father snapped. "That is no way to speak to Adalie."

Katie narrowed her eyes at him. "You stand up for her but not your own father." She pointed out, arranging Chief's plate meticulously. "And I get in trouble for defending him from her rudeness."

"It's what's best for him," Adalie insisted. "Katie, don't you see? He shouldn't be eating this crap, he shouldn't be living alone!"

Katie groaned. "Jesus, woman, would you just _shut up_?" She demanded. "I've had a long day cutting off bull balls and I don't want to be spending it catering to _you_."

"Katheryne Keynes, how dare you," her father fumed, clenching his plate so tightly that his knuckles turned white. "Young lady you are being wildly inappropriate."

Chief sighed deeply as Katie placed his plate in front of him. "I'm sorry, Katie Cat," he murmured as she sat beside him.

"She's just being a bitch," Katie told him. "I deal with them a lot at work. And sometimes my clients are rude too."

He laughed into his drink. "Do _you_ think I'm unhealthy?"

She waved it away. "The way I see it, you're old enough that you may as well do whatever you want. That includes eating and drinking what you want. Not to mention you're really not unhealthy."

"Katheryne," her father snapped, storming into the dining room. "Dad, you really shouldn't encourage her. Adalie is family now."

"If she's family, then she shouldn't be treating Chief like that," Katie drawled.

Chief slapped the table hard. "All of you shut up!" he snapped. "I'm sick of your squabbling. You sit down and enjoy dinner like a family should." His son scowled down at him before submitting and sliding into a chair. Adalie joined him a moment later with a disdainful sniff. Turning back to Katie, he took a sip of his beer. "Now, how are you doing? I've heard all about that fire. Are you doing all right? Where are you staying?"

"I'm staying with friends," Katie assured him, patting his hand. "But don't worry, I'm fine. I'm entirely unhurt. I can't say the same thing about Liz or the animals, but everything's fine."

"Your name was plastered all over the airwaves," her father snapped abruptly. "What were you _thinking_? My security may be revoked!"

Chief ignored him and squeezed Katie's hand. "Well I still have some of your clothes from college if you need them and you and J are more than welcome to stay here if you need to."

"Thanks, Chief," Katie said sincerely, squeezing his hand. "But we're fine. I might take some of those clothes before I leave, though."

"Will they fit? I bet you've gained some weight since you've stayed here." Adalie said while Katie's father fumed.

Chief and Katie ignored them. "They catch 'em though?"

"There's still an ongoing investigation," Katie said. "But so far there hasn't been any more livestock mutilations so they're not sure if they're classifying it as a separate case."

Her father slammed his fork down so hard that Chief's beer rattled and nearly fell over. "Listen here. Your actions are seriously jeopardizing my career." he snapped. "Deaf people can't be doctors, _especially_ if they're women. My biggest mistake was letting your mother raise you to be this...this…" He struggled for words while Katie's fists clenched.

"This what, independent? Masculine?" she demanded. "All I've heard from you is me, me, me. 'You're ruining my career as the biggest ass sucker in the nation, Katheryne', 'I might not get my promotion because you got your veterinary license, what were you thinking, Katheryne.'" She got to her feet. "My assistant and student was brutally murdered and everything was burned down. The first thing you said when you called me was that my name all over the news might jeopardize your career."

"_What_?" Chief demanded. "Aldrin!"

Katie wasn't finished. "Well I'm deaf, big deal," she continued. "If you had so much of a problem with it, you wouldn't have left me at home with Mother, now would you? You wouldn't have stayed married to her when you _knew_ what she did. Instead you just sent me off to live with Gumma."

"You were just a child, I hardly expect you to understand," Aldrin hissed. "Now conduct yourself as befitting a young lady like you."

With a heavy sigh, Chief leaned back in his chair and Katie felt bad for ruining the dinner. "I'm not a lady, I'm a vet. I cut off balls for a living and shove my hand up animals' asses or in rare instances up their vaginas. I drive a truck and don't wear dresses and I burp and swear. I drink beer and liquor and sing lewd songs when I'm drunk." Katie could hear Chief chuckle despite himself. "I'm deaf, I sign, I have implants. Big deal. I hear you just fine with them. I'm successful at what I do and make good money working on ranches with their livestock. Up until recently I had a successful animal rescue and a few days out of the week I work at the community college as an adjunct professor. I'd say that alone should be something a father would be proud of."

"I've worked hard to get where I am in my career," Aldrin hissed. "And seemingly all you do is try to ruin it. I don't expect you to understand it."

Adalie sighed. "Really, Katheryne, you really don't understand it," she said, reaching over to Katie's hand. She pulled it away, out of her reach. "Your father is really a great man. I think you're just irrationally jealous. His career is great and all he's been doing is rising up. This promotion coming up is the big one and all you seem to be doing is ruining it for him. How selfish can you be?"

With a groan, Katie grabbed her ears. "Do you guys _hear_ yourselves?" She turned to Chief. "I'm not going to ask you to get involved in this but I just can't stay here. I'll come by and visit later, I promise."

"Katie Cat," Chief groaned. "No, don't go."

"I'll visit tomorrow and I'll bring J. He'd love to meet you." Katie bent to kiss his cheek. "You haven't seen Aldrin in a while either. You may as well enjoy his company. If it's possible. I'll call you tomorrow."

Sighing, Chief stood and hugged her. "Thanks for coming, Katie Cat," he murmured.

"I'll leave the rest of the Guinness on the porch," Katie whispered in his ear. "I think you'll need it."

Chief laughed. "I'm so sorry that Aldrin…"

Katie patted his arm. "It's okay, Chief. Really. We've just never got along." She bent to kiss his cheek again. "I'll bring J by tomorrow and we'll get lunch together, how's that? We can go into town or we can bring food in, your choice."

"You make an old man happy," Chief said as she walked down the stairs.

"Nonsense," she called back. "You're not old. You're only, what, thirty?"

Chief cackled as she climbed into the cab.

* * *

><p>"Didn't go well?" Jazz asked when she walked into the kitchen.<p>

She sighed and grabbed a rag. "It never does when Aldrin and Adalie are involved," she told him. "Chief and I are great but I have no idea where Aldrin got all these...I don't know, bizarre ideas. He just wants me to be something I'm not and I can't do it. I _had_ to leave or I'd be arrested for murder. But I promised Chief that you and I would come by for lunch."

Gently, Jazz put a hand on her shoulder. "What kind of ideas?"

"He wants me to be a proper lady. He doesn't want me to be deaf." She threw the rag on the ground in frustration. "I'm 32, I haven't seen him since I was 18. For almost _half my life_. And the first thing he tells me is that...that I'm not good enough. I'm a _vet_, I had a successful practice. All he sees is a deaf woman without a husband."

Jazz snorted. "Do you think any human man could keep up with you?" he wanted to know. "You're too...fantastic for them, sugar plum." He squeezed her shoulder gently, tugging her against his side. "That's why you're better off with us. We won't ask you to change. You know, unless you smell bad of course. Like that time that horse shat all over you."

As he had hoped, Katie laughed weakly. "All he wanted to talk about was how my 'life choices'," here she made sarcastic quotation marks with her fingers, "are affecting his career. As if what I do short of getting thrown in jail affects anything!" She whirled to face Jazz, eyes too-bright with unshed tears of frustration. "He sent me away, did you know? Sent me to live with Gumma on the vineyard because I was 'slandering my mother's name' and being 'heinously unladylike' and because I was 'getting in the way of further advancement, you understand, right, Katheryne'?" The air quotations were back and Katie whirled around, slamming a fist into a stainless steel countertop. "And Adalie has the _nerve_ to insinuate that all I do is think of myself. _Who does that?_"

The last bit was shrieked and Jazz winced at the sound. Gently he tugged her back, holding her tightly against his chest and resting his chin on her head. "Look, Katie," he told her gently. "Your family sucks. But you have to stop trying to please them. I know you're not," he said quickly when she tensed. "But who cares what he thinks? Obviously he hasn't had a huge role in your life. Maybe it's time for you to just move on, ignore him. Pay attention to the people that mean the most to you, that have impacted your life in a positive way. Like this Chief, or your Gumma who willed you the vineyard. Forget about these dickwads."

"It's hard to forget," Katie sniffed, tucking her head against his chest. "It hurts. I've done so much and suddenly it all means nothing?"

"It means nothing to the people that shouldn't matter," Jazz said sagely. "So many of the local ranchers here _love_ you. Archie offered you a place to stay, did you know? And clothes if you needed since he heard your house burned down. I've gotten a few calls, too, from people looking for the shelter to offer their condolences and support for you. There's a fund _for you_ and people willing and _wanting_ to volunteer to help you rebuild your house."

Katie leaned back and looked up at him. He wiped a tear from her face. "What?"

The Autobot chuckled. "Even Liz's family are donating in memory of her. They _started_ it. They wanted to build a whole shelter and decided to include your house too. Your clients can't donate too much but they say that they'll come down and volunteer their _time_ to do the building. And once I open this business all that money's going to go to you to rebuild. What use have I for money?" He kissed her forehead in a startling human gesture. "The animals love you. Where would Snowy be without you? And Applejack, that Clydesdale over the hill would've been put down if it weren't for you. You matter to _them_. And to _me_." He pulled her chin up when she looked away, forcing her to meet his Autobot-blue eyes. "I wouldn't have this place if it wasn't for you." he pointed out. "And _I_ don't care if a horse shat all over you or if ten minutes ago you had your hands up a cow's birth canal. I'll still drive you home when you're hammered and sing along when you start belting out lewd songs. I'll still help you if you ever need it with your practice. Sometimes family _isn't_ the people that share your genetics."

Pulling her head away, she tucked it back against his chest and he let her. After a few minutes of silent crying, she stepped back and wiped her eyes. "The night's still young," she said. "Let's grab some dinner and get this place cleaned up, hm?"

Smiling, Jazz nudged her shoulder with his fist. "Atta girl."

* * *

><p><strong>A few quick notes:<strong>

**Gumma and Chief are named for my ex's grandparents. I've only met one set but they're fantastic and I love them dearly. Chief is pretty old but spry for his age like my own grandparents. You'd never know they are in their 80's, really!**

**I based Katie's and Jazz's relationship especially in this chapter like the relationship I have with some of my friends. We call each other ridiculous pet names as a joke (because we don't really call our s/o's anything like "Muffin" and "Kookie Bear") and are generally silly like that. Sometimes people think we're dating and then it gets awkward but that's just how our relationship is.**

**Thanks for reading and bearing with me! I really appreciate it. I'd also love it if you reviewed because the more I'm aware that people actually read this the faster and more likely I am to update faster (hint hint).**

**Also, I'll be traveling to NJ next week. I can't guarantee I'll have a lot of time to work on this but I'm hoping that I will. I'll be bringing my laptop along just in case, though, so hopefully you'll see an update from me next week.**

**~DC**


	7. Moving

**Sorry for the huge delay, guys. Recently I got a job that requires me to move quickly back to NJ so I've been packing up everything down where I am now and getting ready to move. That's why this chapter is so short, I've been caught up in moving prep. **

**Cheers!**

**~DC**

* * *

><p>"I can't believe you drive a truck like this," Lennox huffed as he and Katie hefted the table into the bed. Jazz and Ironhide caught it and arranged it to Jazz's satisfaction before reaching for the next table.<p>

Wiping sweat from her brow with her arm, Katie looked at him. "Huh?" Obligingly he repeated himself and tried not to feel weird when she stared at his lips. "Oh. _That's_ what you're surprised at? My _truck_? Not that J knew exactly what he wanted and where to get it?"

Dripping sweat, Epps groaned from where he leaned against the side. "She's got a point," he told the captain. "Have you been planning this?" He asked almost accusingly.

"Not really," Jazz said with a smirk. "But I've been considering getting a restaurant. Sweetiepie Facecake over there just saved me the leasing step and kind of decided for me."

Shading her eyes, the woman in question frowned up at her guardian. "_What_ did you just call me?"

Still smirking, Jazz hopped down from the bed, making the truck bounce a little on its tires. "Sweetiepie Facecake."

Katie groaned and shoved at his shoulder. "That's a bad one even for you." She turned to Ironhide who was strapping down the tables. "You almost done?"

"Why, you in a rush to be somewhere?" he grumbled before he too hopped off the bed and closed the tailgate.

"No, I just don't want your fat ass breaking my truck," Katie shot back.

Ironhide grunted and scowled at her. "We all packed up?" Jazz asked, clapping his hands briskly. "There's still a lot of work to be done today."

"You _had_ to volunteer us," Epps groaned to Lennox, flapping his sweaty shirt against his chest to try and cool off. "You're lucky I love you."

Lennox slapped his chest with the back of his hand. "You volunteered _yourself_, remember?" He swung an arm around his shoulders. "Besides. Think of all the food Jazz'll make us when this is all over."

"There won't be _any_ food for you if we don't get this all moved and cleaned by the end of the day!" Jazz called from where he parked a few cars down. "Come on! Let's go!"

Rolling her eyes, Katie climbed into her truck and started the engine. She was pulling out of her stall when someone rapped hard on the window. Rolling it down she raised a brow at Epps. "What?"

"Can I ride with you, sugar bun?" he teased and rolling her eyes again she unlocked the door.

"Get in, stupid," she teased back.

* * *

><p>"Why does <em>Katie<em> get food but _we_ don't?" Epps whined as he and Lennox shuffled into the dining room, the box of lamps and chandeliers held between them.

Jazz huffed a laugh. "Whoever you got your information from is wrong," he joked. "I hope it wasn't your own eyes because I'd say you're blind."

"If you worked as much as you complained then maybe we'd get done faster and be able to _eat_ faster," Katie commented from where she balanced on Jazz's shoulders, fixing the chandeliers to his exacting requirements. "This good, my jujube?"

Beneath her, Jazz laughed. "You would know," he teased, moving her to another hanging light. "Only look upon yourself in the mirror and match your own perfection."

Katie cackled as he handed her another shade. Biting his knuckle, Epps pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the two of them. "Sap," she teased affectionately, accepting the shade.

"Only for you," he insisted in a voice sounding more appropriate for a love ballad or a cheesy soap. "I intend to make this restaurant a shrine to you."

Frowning, Katie looked down at him. "What?"

"What are you going to name this place?" Lennox asked, unpacking the shades with care and setting them on tables beneath the lights they were to adorn. "I'm getting a tropical vibe."

Grinning, Jazz walked, with Katie still clinging to his shoulders and hair, to the front and picked up the ukulele resting on the dividing wall. He strummed it, badly out of tune, but began to play an upbeat song. Laughing, Katie clung to him with her legs over his shoulders and her hands gripping his head tightly as he sang and danced, sashaying around the room.

"_Pineapple princess, he calls me pineapple princess, all day as he plays his ukulele on the hill above the bay._" Katie squealed when he spun quickly, nearly tossing her off his shoulders. "_Pineapple princess, I love you, you're the sweetest girl I've seen. Someday we're gonna marry and you'll be my pineapple queen."_

Ironhide, walking in with a box in his arms, snorted as Epps began recording the whole exchange.

"_I saw a boy on Oahu isle, floating down the bay on a crocodile,"_ Katie bawled, as off-tune as the ukulele. They couldn't tell if it was on purpose or not. "_Floating down the bay on a crocodile. He waved at me and he swam ashore and I knew he'd be mine forevermore." _

Hearing the kitchen door open again, Lennox turned in time to see the holoform Optimus Prime used enter the dining room. Waving quickly, he gestured to the dancing and singing duo. The Prime nodded and edged around toward Lennox, kneeling to help the captain unload his box.

"I asked him what he'd call the place," he whispered.

The other's brows rose. "So he started singing?"

Epps chuckled and edged over as they entered another verse together. "Hush, man, this is _gold_!"

"_He sings his song from banana trees, he even sings to me on his water skis. We went skin diving and beneath the blue he sang and played his ukulele too."_

"He really seems happy," Optimus commented, helping Lennox to attach the frosted glass bowl that served as the shades. "Is that an octopus?"

Lennox chuckled. "There's a sting ray over there," he said, nodding with his head to the table next to them. "I can't figure out what he's calling it just yet."

"_We'll settle down in a bamboo hut and he will be my own little coconut,"_ Katie sang, hanging on tightly as Jazz jumped and danced and contorted while continuing to play.

"_And we'll be beach-combing royalty on a wiki-wiki-wacky Waikiki,"_ they finished together.

Optimus chuckled quietly. "I haven't seen him like this in a long time."

"Hush!" Epps insisted, a little too loudly.

Jazz turned so quickly that Katie fell over backwards, hanging upside-down from his shoulders. "Heya, boss!" Jazz called. "Here, princess," he said to Katie, offering a bent arm. Grabbing it, she braced herself as she released the hold her legs had on his shoulders. "What brings you here?"

"I just came by to check on you," Optimus replied, running a cloth over the smudge marks Lennox put on the shade. "And to admire the place."

The former saboteur chuckled. "Yeah, it's not much but it's gettin' there, thanks to these guys."

"So you didn't really answer my question," Lennox said, stepping back to admire his work.

Jazz smirked. "Pineapple Princess, of course. I haven't decided if I want it to be a bar and grille or a cafe or what. I don't even know what I'm going to serve here."

"Grilled pineapple burgers?" Katie suggested.

"Hawaiian pizza?" Epps put in.

Jazz and Katie made identical faces of disgust. "Pineapple has no business on pizza," Katie sniffed.

"And I'm not going to cook anything my Pineapple Princess won't eat," Jazz said, posing as dramatic as any model from the cover of a romance novel. Katie rolled her eyes and elbowed his side.

Prime stared at him and Katie raised a brow at him. "Yes?"

Amused, the Autobot leader shook his holoform's head. "Nothing, it's just I haven't seen him so happy."

Smiling, Jazz put his arm around Katie's shoulder, tucking her against his side affectionately. "Animal therapy works wonders," he said with a laugh. "And the cooking and gardening helps too."

"Gardening?" Prime asked, looking shocked.

"He had a small garden behind my house," Katie explained, wiggling out of his hold to dig through the boxes. Pulling a knife out of her pocket, she began breaking the empty ones down. "Whoever attacked my house also burned it down or trampled it. He had quite the green thumb."

It took Prime a moment to understand the idiom. He glanced at Katie before turning to Jazz who shifted, seemingly embarrassed. He put the ukulele down and returned to unpacking the boxes that Katie hadn't broken down yet. "It gave me time to think and something to do with my hands," he explained. "In either form." he added. "I could work with the big trees without my holoform which was very nice. Then I could get used to working with humans while dealing with the tomatoes and cucumbers and the like."

"I would've started a garden," Lennox told him. "Except I kill everything I touch and there isn't really good land to make a garden at the base."

Jazz's holographic eyes flashed with excitement. "That is easily fixed. We can load Katie's truck with soil and dig down into the sand, make a little box garden."

They all glanced at Optimus who considered it. At last he nodded. "It would decrease food costs and could be very therapeutic as you have found."

"If there is therapy with horses and animals, there is therapy for gardening and growing things," Katie murmured distractedly. "Are there more things in the trucks?"

Lennox nudged her with an elbow. "There's still the tables. Wanna go with me and get them?" Nodding, she followed him out. Epps went as well to give the holoforms privacy as if they were human. "You do therapy too?"

Glancing at him while she climbed into the bed of her truck, she shook her head. "I don't but I lent out my animals to therapists if they wanted to use them for their therapy. They usually used mine until they built up their practice so they could get their own."

"Is there _anything_ you're not involved in?" Epps teased, crossing his arms.

Katie shrugged. "I like to help others. I can't handle seeing abandoned animals or people and I especially can't handle seeing others in pain. So I do what I can, I contact therapists and psychologists and offer up my land or my garden or my animals if they think it would help. I had a lot of it so it wasn't any issue."

There was something in her eyes and tone that made Lennox pause from where he was helping her drag the heavy tables to the tailgate. She grunted and tugged at her edge of the table until he rejoined her. With Epps supporting and steadying it, they began lowering it to the ground.

"Why?" Epps asked at last as they were turning to get another table. She didn't seem to hear him so he waited until she turned her head toward him and gestured to catch her eye. "Why?" he repeated. He tried not to over enunciate his words like Sam had done; they told him later that it did more harm than good and made it harder for Katie to read his lips.

She was clearly reluctant to talk about it but she made a face to hide it. It didn't fool either of them but they didn't press her. Hauling on another table, she grunted. "My mom had PTSD." she said shortly. "Didn't think she did so she didn't get any treatment."

Lennox frowned across the table at her as they dragged it over to the tailgate. "I'm sorry," he said, wiping sweat from his brow. "What happened?"

"She saw what she was doing to us...to me, mostly. Committed suicide." This was said in such a matter-of-fact way that spoke of lasting pain.

There was nothing more to say so they fell silent, speaking only to ask for help or direct the moving of the tables. When they were unloaded, they were stacked and arranged on a dolly and pushed into the dining room.

Optimus, Ironhide, and Jazz had put up the remaining shades and were clearing the boxes and packing detritus. With their superior strength they moved the tables on the dolly in record time and had them arranged to Jazz's satisfaction in record time.

"Great job, guys," Jazz said, clapping his hands briskly. "Tomorrow Katie and I are going back to the supply store and getting the rest of the tables and chairs. You're welcome to join us if you want to."

Epps groaned, twisting his torso. When his back cracked he let out an obscene groan. "I'm getting too old for this," he groaned. "But I have nothing better to do, I think. Should we meet you back here?"

"Sounds good, we should be able to get everything we need in Katie's truck so it'll just be moving and setting up." Jazz said, wiping his forehead in a very human gesture despite not sweating. "You ready to get going?"

Checking her watch, Katie nodded. "Chief will be expecting us soon. Did you get the food?"

"I put it in the refrigerator in the kitchen," Jazz told her with a wink. "I wouldn't forget something like that. Not when we promised to bring him dinner."

Lennox groaned this time, throwing his hands up dramatically. "This 'Chief' gets food but _we_ don't?"

Behind him, Ironhide grunted. "Jazz has food for you too," he said gruffly. "And of course _I_ have to take it back. It'll stink up my cab most likely."

"We can eat it now!" Epps said. "There's a bench out back." Laughing, he slapped Lennox on the back. "C'mon, let's go take our payment." With a wave, they walked quickly into the kitchen and out the back.

Optimus frowned at Katie and Jazz. "Chief?" he echoed.

"My father's father." Katie explained, gathering an armful of cardboard to take out back. "I promised we'd stop by for lunch but he called me earlier today and changed it to dinner."

He continued to frown at her as she waddled past him. "Her father was apparently there last night when they had their dinner," Jazz explained, gathering the rest of the trash. "They had a disagreement so she promised she'd come back when her father wasn't there."

"I thought she said her father left her?" Optimus asked, catching a piece of packing tape as it fell. Wordlessly he took some of Jazz's load and helped him to carry it outside.

Jazz shrugged. "It sounds like he's been making a reappearance in her life again. Aside from that I can't tell you much." He sighed. "She doesn't get along with him or so it seems. We'll see how it goes today. Hopefully he won't show up again."

"Me too," Katie said, hearing the last part of it as they dumped the cardboard near her. "I had enough of him last night and I was only there for fifteen minutes. Less, I think." She grunted and swung herself into the cab of her truck. "Are you going to follow me?" she asked before she closed the door.

Jazz smirked. "Darling, I would follow you _anywhere_."

As Jazz's holoform disappeared and the two vehicles drove away, Optimus frowned after them.

* * *

><p><strong>The song they were singing is called "Pineapple Princess" by Na Leo. It's adorable, you should totally go and listen to it. My ex would call me that when he was teasing me about being weird. When his roommate heard he picked up the name, usually when he was ordering Hawaiian pizza which of course would annoy me. <strong>

**Sorry for the short chapter, though. Things have been crazy.**

**~DC**


	8. Kaeru

**So sorry for the delay. I have long hours at work and training has been eating my brain. There's so much to do and the distance from where I live and where I work makes it so that I get back very late. Combined with an imminent move to my own space with my roommate makes things like this get tossed to the back backburner. Not pushed, **_**tossed.**_ **More like **_**flung**_**, really. **

**But I digress. I promise I'll try to get chapters out at a more reasonable time. I can't promise I **_**will**_**, but I can promise I'll **_**try**_**.**

**Cheers!**

**~DC**

* * *

><p>While it caused a pang of apology somewhere deep inside, Optimus didn't offer the general any sympathy for his fear. He <em>understood<em> it, of course. They were alien to this planet and built on a scale that dwarfed the native species. _Every_ species in fact, unless you count some of those very large sea mammals. His mere existence and sentience disproved everything these intelligent organic creatures thought and was yet another issue that these small creatures had to overcome to be comfortable around him and his men.

Yet another reason that he didn't offer sympathy was that this general had _asked_ for this opportunity. He watched as the man craned his neck up to squint up at his face and after a moment of hesitation threw up a proper military salute.

For humans.

Optimus didn't let his amusement show on his face in any human way of expression and responded patiently in kind for the salute proper for his branch of military and rank. The human seemed to smile into his bushy mustache, pleased.

"Hello, general," Optimus murmured, modulating his voice to seem less booming. The man looked like he would fall over in shock if it was any louder.

The man nodded, muttering into his mustache. "So your designation is Optimus Prime?"

"I am," the Prime replied. "To your understanding my rank is commander of the Autobots."

He was regarded shrewdly for a moment before the general nodded. No doubt he was stung by the "to your understanding" remark. But Optimus had learned long ago that no matter what you said, you would always insult _someone_. "Very good, sir," he said instead. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

Lennox approached, dressed smartly in his full uniform despite the heat and Optimus felt a brief pang of sympathy for his friend. There was a reason that most of their human comrades didn't wear their full uniform around the base. With the presence of this general, Lennox was required to wear full regalia and so were his men should they venture out of the restricted areas.

"Who is your handler?" the general asked, squinting up at Optimus, not seeing Lennox's approach.

"Handler?" Optimus asked, partly amused and partly confused. He had the feeling that the general misunderstood the guardianship roles mechs like Jazz, Ironhide, and Bumblebee had. Likely he thought that the humans were the guardians and handlers of the Autobots rather than partners like they truly were.

The general noticed Lennox and returned the smart salute the captain gave him. "Who is your human liaison?" the general clarified.

"I don't have one," the Prime responded honestly. "I work primarily with Captain Lennox but we are not _partners._" He gentle emphasis on the last word but he wasn't sure that the general caught it.

"Optimus Prime is the primary leader on this base," Lennox explained, standing at ease. Optimus wished that the human would stand more comfortably but this was more for the general than for Optimus. He knew that for humans that pose wasn't particularly uncomfortable, as their joints allowed for more movement than most cybertronian joints, but it was still a disturbing sight to see. "He is in charge especially of the cybertronians and acquisition of materials and supplies. I am in charge of the human personnel and civilians-"

"_Civilians_?" the general cut in. "This is a top-secret military base. Why are there civilians here, captain?"

The corner of Lennox's lips twitched. "The first contact humans had with cybertronians was a civilian boy by the name of Sam Witwicky a few years back. He and his girlfriend were crucial in aiding in the Battle of Mission City and the defeat of the Decepticons. As a result it was decided that they would have clearance to continue relations with the Autobots on Earth. Autobot Bumblebee was assigned a guardianship role over them for their protection."

"Are there others?" the general demanded, addressing Lennox directly rather than Optimus. It was understandable, he felt he had more control over a conversation of his own species and closer to his own size.

For that reason, Optimus knelt to be closer to his height and answered. "Another, yes. Jazz assumed a guardianship role over her. She currently lives on base."

"Why was I not informed of this?" the general demanded, still not looking away from Lennox.

Optimus could tell that his friend was becoming annoyed. "Because you did not have clearance for it," the commander replied reasonably. The general turned to scowl at him before remembering who and what he was scowling at. "You were cleared for today to meet Lennox and myself but you were not cleared to have a list of the faculty and staff of those on this base."

The general appeared to literally chew on those words before answering. "I was under the impression that I was cleared for duty here."

"With your human government, yes," Optimus said patiently. "But we get a choice too. You are not reporting for duty today, you are reporting for another interview."

He could see that the man wasn't happy with that. Likely he was used to getting his way and this revelation stung his pride or something. He chewed on his words again and seemed to be about to say something a few times before deciding against it. Probably a wise choice. "What am I allowed to do at the moment, then?"

"Speak with us. You are allowed into the common areas of the base. I understand that your sun here can be unhealthy for you." Optimus said. Out of the corner of his optic he caught a glimpse of silver and green. "Captain, if you would please take the general inside? I will meet you there; I must speak with Jazz and Ratchet for a moment." His friend nodded and gestured to the other human, leading him into the nearby hangar that served as the common and community room.

The CMO was scowling when he approached. "Katie refuses to let me accompany her to her work," he said once he was in reasonable conversation range. "It is for her own protection yet she still refuses."

"All you do is tell her how inferior her skills are," Jazz snapped back. It was clear to Optimus that it was a long argument between them even before they brought it up to him. "Why would she want to continue working with her?"

"A _true_ scientist would want to constantly be improving her skills," Ratchet sniffed.

If he was human he would have a headache. "We will not force her to do anything she does not wish to," Optimus assured Jazz who continued to scowl at Ratchet. "We can see if we can find another to go out with her."

"We got a transmission from Hound recently," Jazz told him. "He'll be making planetfall within the hour."

Optimus tried not to groan. His day just got harder. "I'll let Lennox know. Have Ironhide and Epps go out and meet him with a squad. Ratchet, you go too."

"I'll go tell Katie," Jazz said, heading for the communal hangar. "She's in the mess." He added, seeing Optimus's pinched look.

Ratchet scowled at his commander and stalked off. As the humans would say, it reminded Optimus of a perturbed felid.

Turning, he followed Jazz to the communal center. His comm. buzzed and he resisted the urge to sigh until he saw that it was from Lennox. "Is something wrong?" he asked, speeding up his walk.

"_You need to get here quick, Op,"_ the human told him urgently.

He grunted and broke into a trot, passing Jazz who looked at him oddly. At the door he slowed to a more decorous place but still entered at a quick clip. Lennox waved to him near the doors to the mess section. He cleared the entertainment space in a few steps. "What's wrong?" he asked as quietly as a twenty-five-foot being could.

"_Keynes_," Lennox whispered, knowing that Optimus would have no issue hearing him.

Optimus's brows rose. "What about him?"

Lennox shook his head. "Not _just_ him. Katie. Katheryne Adelaide _Keynes_."

He walked with Lennox (who trotted beside his feet to keep up) into the mess and found the two human inhabitants squared off and scowling at each other. Fury was written on the general's face; on Katie's it was frustration and exasperation.

"-are you doing here?" the general was demanding.

Optimus could see that she had taken her cochlear implants off and had taken part of it apart, perhaps to check or change the battery. "She can't hear you," Optimus said as they approached. He suspected but didn't say that his lips were probably obscured by his thick mustache so she couldn't read his lips either.

Angrily, the general scowled at him. Katie looked at Lennox, annoyed and confused and he just motioned for her to be quiet. She nodded and glanced at her cochlear implants on the table, resigned.

Jazz's holoform walked in and signed something to her. She shook her head, biting her lower lip. "What is she doing here?" he snapped at Lennox, completely ignoring Optimus as he crouched to be closer to their height.

"I am her guardian," Jazz told him tersely. "Who are _you_?"

The general scowled, straightening his posture. "I'm her _father_."

Katie tugged Jazz's sleeve and signed quickly to him. Even though Lennox had taught himself a few words, the speed of her motions and fingers made it so that he couldn't recognize anything she was saying, even given the context. "Not really," Jazz said when Katie was done. "You sent her away to live with her grandparents, remember?"

Fury twisted the man's face. "And those voodoo motions she did tell you that? Or are you making assumptions?"

Urgently Katie signed something to Jazz who frowned. Turning, she signed something else to Optimus while Jazz spoke. _He doesn't understand ASL and doesn't recognize it as a language. He thinks that it's the work of the devil, on par with blood sacrifices and cult worship._ Her eyes were tearing up but she bit her lip harder to keep them from falling.

"She told me that, yes," Jazz was saying. "I can also see the familial resemblance. Think what you may about me but I'm not stupid."

The general shook with rage. "And who are _you_?"

"Autobot Jazz," the saboteur said stiffly. "Her _guardian_."

He was regarded shrewdly. "As her father I request that you be removed from her guardianship. I will resume that role."

Katie, frustrated, tugged on Lennox's shirt. _What are they saying?_ She mouthed.

"He wants Jazz to be removed as your guardian so he can resume the role." Lennox whispered so she could read his lips. He repeated it again when she frowned in confusion. This time she nodded.

"Ultimately the choice of guardianship is made between both parties," Optimus rumbled, drawing the general's annoyed stare. "If neither of them wish to separate, then they will not and I will support their decision."

The general changed his tactics. "Is it really wise for her to be here?" He asked instead. "Are you capable of caring for a medically and mentally disabled child?"

A tug on Lennox's shirt reminded him to translate. "He asks if Jazz and Op are capable of taking care of you." Katie scowled. "We know you're not an invalid." he added quickly and the frown wrinkling her brow decreased slightly.

"You left her when she was a child," Jazz told the general, barely-controlled rage in his voice. "What makes you think _you_ can take care of her?"

Optimus glanced at Lennox and inclined his head pointedly toward Katie. The captain nodded and drew her away toward the entertainment room and scrounged around for a pen and paper.

_He left when Mom killed herself._ Katie wrote shortly. _I haven't heard from him since...until a few weeks ago._

Taking it from Katie, Lennox wrote, _Does Jazz know?_ Katie shook her head. _U didn't tell him? Y?_

It took Katie longer to write her response this time. _He didn't need to know. Last I heard he was with some bitch he married a few months after Mom's death in UT_. _All of a sudden he's in CA and wanted to meet up to 'make up for lost time.'_

Lennox made a face. _U don't get along?_

_No_. _The thinks I should be a proper lady and that my deafness is just a phase._

The captain hesitated. There was a difference between needing to know the information and prying too much. _So u weren't always deaf?_

Katie shook her head and hesitated as she took the pen, biting her lip. _Mom waited until I knew ASL and how to read lips and how to live with my implants. Then the guilt was too much._

_What about ur dad?_

_He thought mom was just encouraging my bad behavior. Maybe another reason she left._ Katie twisted the pen in her hands. _Once he sent me to Gumma's he left for UT. _

Lennox flipped the pen in his hand thoughtfully. _He's applying 4 liaison w/ th gov't + Autobots. The gov't approved him but we still need to._

For a long moment Katie frowned down at the paper. _Will you hire him?_

The captain chuckled. _Not if Jazz has anything 2 say about it_. He hesitated. _I have no opinion of him yet. We just met._

Katie nodded and sniffed miserably. Lennox was happy to see that she didn't look like she was particularly close to crying.

The door to the mess opened and Jazz's holoform walked out with stiffly. His face softened when he saw Lennox and Katie and as he approached, he held out Katie's cochlear implants, put back together and presumably fixed.

With a smile like a ray of sunshine emerging from an overcast day, Katie took the implants and attached them to her skull. Lennox tried hard to not stare but seeing him looking, Katie moved her hair to show where the magnets attached.

"That's _much_ better," Katie said with a wide grin. She stretched her jaw and clicked her thumb. "What'd you do? It's working so much better now!"

Jazz made a face. "Ratchet fixed it actually. He may whine about you but he really wants the best for you."

"He's still not coming out with me," Katie grumbled.

"I negotiated for Hound to go with you. He'll like that." Jazz told her, throwing himself into a dusty couch, releasing a cloud of fine sand. "He's a scout. Loves exploration, that sort of thing."

Katie smiled. "He sounds great. I'll have to speak to him sometime."

Glancing between the two of them, Lennox sighed and heaved himself to his feet. "I better go back in there. Talk to you guys later?"

The two of them waved to him as he left and continued their conversation. Glancing back as he entered the mess, he saw that Katie had moved so she could lean against Jazz's side.

* * *

><p>To their surprise, Maggie found them a few minutes later, Bluestreak's holoform trailing behind. She immediately sensed that something was wrong and wheedled the story out of them both.<p>

"You need girl time," she decided judiciously. "I know the perfect place. Are you working tomorrow? I am. We're going tonight. C'mon, you two. We're going."

Despite her protests, Katie was dragged to her feet and outside. "You need it," Jazz called after her. "Your hair looks like shit!"

Katie flipped him off over her shoulder as she was dragged away. As Bluestreak drove away, they passed Prime, Lennox, and General Keynes as they emerged from the other side of the hangar. Maggie stuck her arm out of the driver's side window and flipped him off as they passed. Glancing around behind them, Katie saw that Lennox was doubled over in what looked like laughter. Her father looked less than impressed.

"Now that I've got that out of my system," Maggie said, tugging herself back into Bluestreak's cab. "How about some shopping and a spa day? Night. Whatever." At her loud whoop, Bluestreak accelerated, speeding gleefully down the dusty road.

* * *

><p><strong>Fun Fact: it's one of my pet peeves when people text me things like 'how r u doin?' I simultaneously hate it and am indifferent to it. You do you but I don't particularly appreciate it.<strong>

**The chapter title is Japanese for "come back".**

**Cheers!**

**~DC**


	9. Burlap

**Hey guys, have another chapter.**

**I really hate to do this but I can't tell if anyone is reading this so I will not submit another chapter unless I get reviews. I don't know if anyone reads this and I tend to use the reviews to improve my writing. Do you like the way the characters are portrayed this time around if you read _Friends_? Do you hate it? Love it? What parts about it do you love and/or hate? It's very disorienting for me to write like this and not have any feedback. **

**While I do enjoy writing this, I have other projects I can also work on. If no one is reading this I'll probably put it on the back burner and potentially forget about it. **

**Enjoy the chapter (or not).**

**Merry Christmas :)**

**~DC**

* * *

><p>Coughing, she rolled over on to her back and stared up at the ceiling. When she licked her lips, all she tasted was concrete dust. Beyond the heavy wall or whatever was above her, she could hear voices.<p>

"_Dove sei_?"

She took a deep breath and coughed when her dry throat, irritated by the heavy concrete dust, itched. "_Qui!_" Above her, the wall rumbled and shook.

"_Dove sei_?" her friend called again, closer. Probably even on the other side of the wall.

"_Qui!_" she called again, louder this time. She coughed and spat the cloying dust from her mouth. "_Qui! Attento con quel murro!_"

A crack of brilliant light opened up directly above her, highlighting navy blue fingertips that pried it back. "You okay down there?" an unfamiliar voice called.

It took her a moment to adjust. "Si! Yes!"

"_Attento!_" her friend yelled from somewhere nearby.

The light brightened and the wall groaned. With the new lights, she could see the growing crack. With a cry she scrambled back. "_Attento!_"

With a loud groan the wall crumbled and she twisted, feeling the gust of air from its passage as it fell a few scant inches from her legs. Her friend was swearing on the other end of the great cloud of thick dust.

"_Army? Mama? Stai bene?_" A big red hand reached out of the dark dust and she twisted to avoid it. The fingers impacted the cinderblock wall behind her with too much force and punched through it like it was warm butter.

Leaning against the wall, she propped herself up and scrambled upwards to her feet. She swayed dizzily for a moment and coughed. "_Bene, bene_," she called. Waving her arms around her face, she blew away enough of the dust that she could see and walk forward. She was scooped up and held tightly to a dented and scratched chest. "_Folgore, io sto bene_."

Another form appeared slowly as the dust settled or drifted away. This was the origin of the navy blue hands she had seen earlier, a navy blue and white mechanoid. "Hey, are you all right?"

It took her a moment to switch back to English again. "Yes," she said. "I am fine."

"Did I crush you at all when that wall broke?" the other asked, leaning closer.

"_Cretino_," Folgore muttered and she slapped his hand in warning, ignoring the sting.

The new mechanoid didn't seem bothered by the insult if he understood it, leaning back and looking around. "I guess it was just you in there?" he looked a lot more worse for wear than Folgore did, dented and scraped with pieces of his armor missing judging by the odd gaps. "Maggie?"

Folgore grumbled, twisting her in his hands while scanning her for injuries. "_Come stai? Onestamente?_"

"I am fine, Folgore, yes," she answered in English, remembering where she was. "Honestly. Just a little shaken up." she coughed up more dust and leaning over his fingers, spat the grey mucous into the street. "And dusty," she added. "You?"

Her friend rumbled, kneeling and setting her down carefully on a clear bit of road. "What are you looking for?" he demanded testily of the other mechanoid that was calling something she couldn't quite make out.

"_Sii gentile!_" she hissed, kicking his knee just hard enough for it to register with him.

The other mechanoid wandered back to them, not that he had gone very far. "My partner, Maggie. And our friend Katie - she's Jazz's partner. I don't know where they went."

"_Grande sorpresa. Li perso."_ Folgore muttered.

Whirling, she kicked his leg harder, her steel-toed boots making a satisfying dent in his greaves. Folgore winced. It still didn't hurt him but it got her point across. "_Folgore! Sii gentile!_" Turning, she shaded her eyes to squint up at the other mechanoid. "We'll help you look. What are they called?"

"I'm Bluestreak," he said, gesturing at himself. "My partner is Maggie and our friend is Katie. But she's deaf and I don't know if her implants were knocked out or if anything like that happened."

Together they searched the rubble. She climbed on and over places Folgore and Bluestreak couldn't reach safely but with every passing moment she was more and more convinced that Bluestreak's friends weren't there. Or if they were, they were buried beneath tonnes of rock and steel.

When she scrambled back to the two mechanoids, she found that they were joined by others. One was an ambulance (though why one would paint it green she had no idea), another was a dark green Jeep, and the last was a silver sports car that she didn't recognize. The silver mechanoid's optics zeroed in on her and it (he? probably) held out a hand to help steady her as she climbed down from the wreckage.

"I couldn't find anything." she said, hacking out another grey wad of mucous. "If they heard me, I saw no sign of it."

The silver mechanoid steadying her looked distressed. "Is there anything else we can do?"

"Scent dogs," she suggested. "But that is for the American authorities."

"Where are you from?" The Jeep asked, approaching as well. He knelt to be closer to her height, the tendrils making up his beard swaying with the motion. Strangely enough he reminded her of the American "hillbillies" with his wide, friendly face and large "beard". "Your articulation is different than the dominant language found on this continent."

She glanced at Folgore who was being fussed over by the green ambulance. It really was a hideous shade. "I am from Italy. My name is Armonie. You can call me Army. Folgore does."

The "hillbilly" tilted his head to the side and she smiled when the odd braided cords swayed. "My name is Hound and I just landed a few hours ago."

"Welcome to Earth, Hound." Army said, holding out a hand to shake. Gravely, Hound offered her a finger. "I wish it was under better circumstances."

Behind her, the silver mechanoid shifted his weight anxiously. "What happened here? Do you know?"

"Folgore and I were driving toward the wine farms...ah, _vineyards_ when we saw the fight," Army said, craning her head up at him. "We stopped to help but it was...dangerous."

The distant wail of sirens drew their attention to the flickering lights just visible through the haze. "We need to go," the ambulance said firmly as Folgore sidled over to Army and folded himself into a sleek Ferrari. He was dented and scraped but looked to be in relatively good condition regardless. Or at least in good humor. "Follow us," he ordered as the other mechanoids transformed as well.

Army saw Bluestreak and the silver mechanoid glance longingly at the rubble as if that final glance would bring their partners running to them before they folded themselves into their alternate forms and fell into line.

"_We could probably outrun them,_" Folgore murmured to her in her native language. "_Do you want to?_"

She hummed as they rattled over the torn roads behind that God-awful ambulance. Really, what would you call a color like that? _Fosforescente_? "_What about their friends? Maggie and Katie?_"

Folgore grunted. "_Not our problem,_" he insisted.

"_We should help,_" Army told him softly. "_Wouldn't _you _want help if you lost me?_"

The Ferrari grumbled. "_Hold on, Jazz is pinging me on the comm._" Turning her head, she saw the silver mechanoid - apparently called Jazz - pulled up beside them as they drove. If they were human drivers, it would be dangerously close but Army trusted in their skill and relaxed.

"_You can leave if you want to,_" he told them in Italian. "_Blue and I would understand. This isn't your fight or your headache to deal with._"

Army pursed her lips. Around her she could feel Folgore's excitement, the desire to go again, to be on the run. They weren't on the run _per se_, but the wandering lifestyle suited him. He hated to be tied down, to follow orders.

"_We need to speak about it,_" she told him at last.

The silver sports car beside them revved his engine and fell back in line. "_If you decide to run, tell me an' Blue. We'll foul up the others._"

"_He's a good sort,_" Folgore said grudgingly. "_I didn't know him too well back on Cybertron because he was ranked so much higher than me but he was always a good mech._"

"_He seems like it,_" Army said distractedly. "_What do _you _want to do?_"

Folgore was silent for a while, silently chewing over the question. "_I don't want to fight anymore,_" he admitted to her quietly. "_If we stay here then that's what'll happen._"

"_We can't just leave those two girls,_" Army pointed out. "_I know you feel the same way. Look, let's just help them find them and then we can run away._"

"_They might find us again. They'll chase us down._" Folgore said half-heartedly.

Army chuckled darkly. "_They tried to in Italy, remember?_"

"_That was different,_" Folgore insisted. "_We weren't in a convoy! They didn't know it was us!_"

"_We have Jazz and Bluestreak to foul them up. So what if they know we're here? We can always run and hide again._" Army laughed. "_Let them try to chase us._"

Folgore revved his engine. "_I love the way you think, Mama_,"

"_Stop calling me that._"

"_I'll ping Jazz back and tell him._" Army hummed and ran her fingers over the interior of the car.

* * *

><p>A hand was shaking her shoulder hard enough to make her head shake. Her head and shoulders pounded and the shaking made the world lurch and spin. She groaned, or she thought she did.<p>

When she opened her eyes she found Maggie, looking as battered and beaten as she felt, looking down at her. Her lips moved and she looked relieved. For a brief second Katie panicked. Why couldn't she hear?

Carefully she sat up and took stock of her injuries. A touch to her face revealed a bloody nose with caked blood along her cheek. Her mouth was dry and sticky; a split lip made her wince when her tongue touched it. Reaching up to her ears, she felt the scars from her surgery and remembered.

Maggie was saying something else and Katie stopped her by putting a hand over her mouth. She winced when she saw the lurid bruises and dust coating her fingers. When she had Maggie's attention, she pointed at her ears and shook her head.

Pursing her lips, Maggie handed her something and looking down, Katie saw that it was her implants, mangled and twisted beyond all hope of repair. _Where are we?_ Katie asked. Or that's what she thought she said. She was pretty sure that her lips made the right movements but she couldn't tell what her voice sounded like. Was she even saying anything?

Maggie made a face and dug through her purse. _Decepticons kidnapped us,_ she wrote when she found a pen and paper. _Are you okay?_

Frowning, Katie looked around. _Where_ _are we?_ she wrote, underlining the _where_ a half dozen times.

_Hell?_ Maggie suggested, rolling her eyes. _I __can_ _tell you that we're in a jail cell right now._

Sure enough, there were bars and an old toilet in the corner. She didn't feel up to looking it over more and even if she was she wouldn't want to. Flickering light filtered into their cell through a barred window high above the ground. She gestured at her wrist, tapping it like she was tapping a watch.

_It's really late,_ Maggie said without hesitation. Digging around in her purse again, she pulled out her phone. In the dark they both squinted at the bright screen. It was nearly midnight. More importantly the bars at the top of the screen read _no service_. They traded glances as the screen turned off.

Something made Maggie turn quickly and belatedly Katie followed the direction of her gaze. Through the gloom Katie could make out a dark grey and dark blue form through the bars of their cell. Something had torn the ceiling off and replaced it with what looked like an iridescent glass plate that shifted colors even as she looked at it. Through it she could see the upper torso of the mechanoid looking down at them, the angular wings, and the blood-red optics. It was talking but the darkness made it hard to see more of its face much less its lips even if they were readable to her.

_He says that there's no use trying to run, we're in the middle of the desert,_ Maggie wrote painstakingly. _No one can hear us scream. They will see us if we try to run. Our friends cannot track us, there is no hope for us._

The mechanoid frowned and crouched down. It said something again and Katie looked over at Maggie. Her chin was raised defiantly and she told it something. Katie _thought_ they were talking about her but couldn't be too sure. Though her curiosity ate at her, she bit her lip and sat still, watching the exchange as if she could hear it.

On the other side of the bars, the mechanoid leaned forward. Almost irritably she thought it resembled a child looking at a caged animal at the zoo. She supposed in the end, though, that curious looks were better than furious ones. Its fingers were clumsy and there were fewer than humans hand, not to mention it had less dexterity due to less joints in its fingers but it very carefully signed _My name is Thundercracker_.

Well, it actually signed _My name is Fhundeucuackeu_, having a hard time twisting its fingers properly to make the r shape. It instead resembled a u but Katie had heard stories of Starscream's two brothers Thundercracker and Skywarp and could figure out who he was.

Katie gulped. Not that she had doubted Maggie but knowing that Thundercracker was here (meaning that there were other Decepticons as well) made her stomach sink even lower. _Hi_, she waved weakly.

_I am in charge of your stay here,_ Thundercracker continued, signing slowly as if he knew that his fingers made it difficult to understand him. _Please let me know if you require anything, if you are cold, and so on. _

Maggie said something and judging by the minute frown on Thundercracker's face it was probably rude. _Are we meant to stay here in this room?_ Katie asked instead.

The mechanoid cocked his head. _Yes. My brother Skywarp is looking for blankets and such for you to sleep on._ What wasn't said in the way he meaningfully tilted his head was that Skywarp couldn't be trusted with the two of them.

Katie shivered, both with the chill of the evening air of the desert and with the awareness that these things could easily kill them and would find no issue with doing so. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Maggie demanding something of Thundercracker. It looked like she was asking why they were there.

_The great Lord Megafuon_ (Megatron? Katie wondered. Wasn't that what the Decepticon leader was called?) _ordered Bauuicade to capture you._ Briefly Katie hoped to herself that the Decepticon's name was _Barricade_, not _Bauuicade_ because it was just a strange and sad name even for Cybertronians. _Why he wanted you is not something I needed to know._

Despite his indifference Katie could still see the hard edge in the planes of his face that showed her exactly what he thought of not knowing that information. Especially since he was apparently in charge of their well-being.

Impact tremors warned her of the approach of another Cybertronian. This one was essentially a matte black, slightly smaller Thundercracker. In the darkness she could see his lips moving but of course couldn't hear what he was saying. The iridescent glass over the enclosure rose and what Katie assumed was Skywarp dropped dusty burlap rags in. She saw Thundercracker murmur something to the other mechanoid who shrugged with an unrepentant grin.

Katie glanced at Maggie who shook her head. She shook out the nearest burlap sack and frowned deeply when she saw a large hole in the side. _We are not prepared to take care of humans here,_ Thundercracker signed after waving to get her attention. _But we will only be here for a day. If you get too cold let me know. I can't do much, though._

She waved it off and gestured to Maggie when she opened her mouth. _We can't do anything about it,_ she wrote on Maggie's pad with a firm look at her friend. _They'll tell us later why they want us and the Autobots will come and save us._

Maggie looked uneasy but settled down beside Katie. _I don't even know we'll survive tonight_, she wrote.

Shaking her head grimly, Katie tucked herself beside her friend and piled the burlap bags over them. _That's quitting talk,_ she wrote with a shaky smile. _We can do it._

Nervously Maggie nodded. _What if we can't? I don't think I can sleep…_

Katie wiggled so she could wrap an arm around her shoulder and hugged her to her side. Aware that Thundercracker and Skywarp were watching, Maggie laid her head on Katie's shoulder and closed her eyes. In minutes Katie felt her drift off to sleep.

Sleep tugged at her own mind, from a long and emotional day and from the battering her body had taken in their kidnapping. She looked at the two Decepticons and found that Thundercracker was still crouching to peer through the bars.

_I know it's not very reassuring but I will be here to watch over you. Nothing that Lord Megafuon hasn't ordered will happen to you._ Thundercracker signed slowly and deliberately.

Katie closed her eyes. It _wasn't_ reassuring, but a small part of her was reassured that he would stay and watch over them. He wasn't Jazz or any Autobot, but he would make sure that no one harmed them without orders. They wouldn't die unless the Decepticon leader ordered them.

And if they were kidnapped for the reason Katie thought, it would be the last thing on Megatron's mind. Like Maggie she was asleep in moments.


End file.
